Justice of Love
by ClassicHero
Summary: Shanelle and Leonne were best of friends in High School. They had known each other for years prior, though they were completely opposite personalities. Shanelle was into flirting and boys and Leonne was interested more in cartoons and 'being a nerd'. So what happens when they find themselves in the headquarters of the Young Justice team?
1. Chapter 1 - In Real Life

Chapter One - In Real Life

It was like every other day. I had no interest in school whatsoever, nor did I really care about the nerdy things that Leonne told me. He was always spending his lunches telling me about new TV shows he saw or about why a certain person, usually fictional, is a wonderful addition to the human race. Leonne was my best friend, but sometimes, he just kept going on about things I didn't care about. Sometimes, I would take notice, but that's only when either I have nothing better to do or I actually find it interesting (that only happened once and he was talking about Superman having enormous muscles and chiseled features; what girl, or guy, wouldn't want to listen to someone talking about that?)

"So, this was the first time I saw it right and basically, as soon as I saw it, I was amazed. It was absolutely fantastic. Even the theme is just breath-taking! I mean, really, it's amazing! It is techno and all, so it's really cool! And then Artemis and M'gann… I mean, wow… They are…" Leonne started, playing more with his food than eating it because he was getting so into his story. He whistled at the end of his sentence, so I decided to sound somewhat interested and actually talk to him about it.

"Uh, Lee, what did you say it was called?" I asked, not bothering to look at him. I shoved a spoon of spaghetti into my mouth and wondered why it was called spaghetti. Why wasn't it pronounced spag-hetti? Why couldn't it be 'a wriggly, dinner jelly' or something?

"Young Justice. Like I said, it's awesome. And I mean awesome. I think that you'll like a few of them. Kid Flash and Robin seem to be your type," Leonne chuckled with a wink to me. I scoffed and laughed in reply.

"Uh, Lee, you're forgetting, I like real people. They make me feel warm and fuzzy. Cartoons make me feel pixelly," I joked, punching Leonne softly in the arm.

"No wonder people call you Tempest. You have the personality of a storm; you never know when it'll hit!" Leonne exclaimed, still chuckling. I joined him in chuckling and continued eating, my favourite pasttime.

"I really have to show you Young Justice this afternoon. We're still on for it, right?" Leonne asked, smiling at me. I nodded and continued eating. Every afternoon, I would go over to his house, sometimes to see a new show, sometimes just to talk. He had been my best friend for years and even though he was a complete nerd, I still loved him like he was my own brother.

~~~.~~~

The bell rang as I placed the last little bit of spaghetti into my mouth and shoved the container into my bag. My mum was a great cook and always gave me the leftovers to take to school so that I didn't have to buy lunch.

"What have we got next? I can't be bothered thinking…" I said to Lee, walking next to him like a zombie who's had too much to drink.

"Wow, are you high or something? And we've got English," Lee joked, pushing me away from him lightly and jogging ahead. It was true; whenever Lee and I were together, no one knew what we'd get up to. I guessed it was from listening to so much of whatever he said about superheroes. I could be one if I wanted to, though not a very good one.

"Brains!" I joked, dragging my leg along behind me, my arms outstretched, catching a few odd looks for the passers-by. With only a metre to the classroom and Lee still running, someone opened the door, causing Lee to run straight into it.

"Eurh… Five second rule," I chuckled, helping Lee to his feet, who just shot me an evil stare.

"What?" I asked innocently, "I wasn't the one who just got punched in the face by a door."

Again, another evil stare. As we entered the classroom, the same musty smell that always lurked around the room hit my nostrils, making me pick up the air freshener that the class had decided on keeping in the room and sprayed, making the air somewhat breathable and gaining many sighs of appreciation.

"Well, my job's done," I stated, sitting on the chair in front of Lee. English, in our opinion, was the best class ever. We could do whatever we wanted to do and the teacher didn't care. He just droned on about things and hoped the class would listen. His hopes were defeated.

"Hey, Shay Shay!" I heard a very masculine voice trickle through the air, so I looked to my right to catch a glimpse of Blake, who was winking at me. I fluttered my eyes at him in return and smiled. It was the usual thing. I would always flirt with him, and he would always flirt with me, but we never dated. I was known as the school flirt. But, despite all that, I still had my self-respect and didn't sleep with anyone. Things would stay that way until I was married.

A few times during the lesson, and since I turned to sit with my legs over the right side of the chair so I could talk easier to Blake, I glanced to my right to see Lee drawing a few characters from, from what I guessed, Young Justice. Even though I hated to admit it, I was checking out some of the characters, because Leonne was a really amazing drawer. His attention to detail was outstanding. He had drawn two together and wrote 'Robin' and 'Kid Flash' next to them. I knew that I'd find out who they were eventually.

I just didn't realise how soon.

That afternoon, as the final school bell rang out, I made my way to Lee's place, as I always did in the afternoon. He lived only about ten minutes from me and even though we were already at his house, he'd always walk me home. Lee was a gentleman when he wanted to be.

The afternoon's walk seemed slow and uneventful, with me walking like a solitary bear, ready to pounce on anything that dared attack it. The cracked, cobblestone path that I followed had blades of grass protruding from it and ants smothering it, also. Each step of the lonely way, I took note of everything that I passed, from the colouring of various trees, to the darkness of the sky. That's when something struck me as strange.

When I left the school, which was only a few minutes prior, the sky was bright and clear, but now, everything was growing darker, like a horrible storm was forming.

"You're going crazy, Shay. Just ignore it. It's all in your head," I reassured myself, planting a smile on my face, which was soon smacked off by a crack of thunder, which gave me a heart attack.

"Not imagining it! Not imagining it!" I repeated to myself, running on the path, as fast as I could, toward Lee's house. The faster I got there, the better! But things would be even better if, for once, Lee arrived before me.

It felt like hours passed before I saw the roof of his house over the trees. I breathed a breath of relief, which was soon knocked out of me by another tremendous crack of thunder right behind me. I continued running and as soon as I reached his house, I let myself in.

"Whoo!" I gasped, leaning against the door. For some obscene reason, I felt like the thunder was chasing me, but I knew that only crazy people thought that.

Like usual, the first thing I did was raid his fridge, looking for a drink. All that his fridge usually consisted of was celery, peanut butter, water and cake, but I was on a diet, so the water was all I took.

About a half hour passed before Lee returned home. His parents worked late, well past after when I usually left his home. That's the reason that I was always allowed over; to keep Lee company.

"Where were you?" I asked sternly, sounding like his mother.

"Relax, I was at the video store. I told you I'd show you Young Justice, and that's exactly what I got. With a sigh, I rolled my eyes and sat in the lounge chair right in front of the TV. That was the place that I always sat, and like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, I refused to give up my spot.

"I hope it's good. I was being chased by thunder, I spent a whole half hour waiting for you to get home and all I could consume was WATER! There was cake, but no. I was being a good girl and just had water," I complained, stretching my arms.

"I think you'll like some of the characters. I reckon you'll think a few of the guys, maybe all, are pretty hot," Lee giggled at me, sitting next to me with the remote after putting the DVD into the DVD player.

"I will not! I don't go after guys that easily!" I retorted, folding my arms and scoffing.

Lee just returned my eye roll and scoff and said, "Are you kidding? You'll flirt with anything that moves! Blake, for example?" I didn't know what to say. It was partly true. I had a thing for always flirting.

But little did I know that all that would end up being a strange, old thing for me.

"Why isn't the player working?" Lee asked, fiddling with the remote. I thought we were still discussing Blake, so I got a little offended.

"He isn't a player! And he is working. Just not right now," I replied, my arms still folded.

"I don't mean him, I mean this. Is it the disc?" Lee muttered to himself, kneeling on all fours and crawling over to the DVD player. All I could muster was a simple 'Oh.'

A few minutes passed and nothing. All that appeared was a picture of some buses on a bridge. That was all. In those few minutes, I zoned out slightly, not realizing what was happening, until I heard Lee hiss in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked, walking up to him. With a shake of the head, Lee showed me his finger, was hell-bent on bleeding. I jerked my head back a little and repeated what Lee was doing: trying to get the DVD to work. For some reason, a strange zap caused my finger to bleed as well, though I had no idea why.

And with one last look at each other, we both saw black.


	2. Chapter 2 - How Did I Get Here?

I don't know what had happened, why or how, but I knew one thing; I couldn't remember anything! The last thing I remembered was prolonged darkness and something about someone called Superman.

That was it.

Looking down, I saw myself almost naked, apart from bits of material clinging to some of the more important parts of me. I also saw something that basically gave me a heart attack; I was a cartoon, pixels and everything! There was only one other person in the room with me. For some weird reason, he looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on where I knew him from. I just decided to talk with him to see if he knew what was going on.

"Oh, hey! Uh… do I know you?" he called, waving me over. I was stunned; for some reason, I didn't really want to have much to do with him, or anyone for that matter. I felt so weird, so violated. I had no idea about what had happened, nor where I was. I knew that I was inside a cave, but that was all I knew. The floor was polished, so someone must have lived here.

I continued walking over to the familiar guy, my hands behind me back and my eyes on constant surveillance of the ground.

"Hey, it's alright. I don't know what's happened either. We can work it out together. It seems like you're pretty confused yourself. But for some reason, all I can remember is The Justice League and Young Justice. There's… a few of them… I'll remember more later, I'm sure of it…" the stranger said to me, smiling, walking up to me and placing a reassuring hand onto my shoulder. Almost immediately, I started feeling weak. It wasn't the kind of weak that one felt when it love, it was more like I was having the power drained out of me. Without a single word, I backed away from the guy, finding myself blocked off by a wall. The boy was kind of cute; he had dark eyes and messy, blonde hair with streaks of brunette through it.

"Who are you?" a young voice called out from behind us. I could feel myself blushing as I turned around; there was a whole bunch of people standing right behind me! There was a boy who looked relatively young who was dressed in a red outfit with a cape and a mask, then there was a guy next to him with bright red hair and… cute, green eyes… I found myself staring awkwardly for a bit at the guy, but he didn't seem to mind. He was smiling casually at me. Then next to him, there were two girls, one blonde and one with green skin and finally, on the end, there were another two boys, older-looking this time. One was dark haired with light skin, while the other had dark skin with blonde hair. I found myself feeling frazzled; what was I doing here?

"Oh, my God! That's the Young Justice squad! That's Robin, that's Kid Flash… Oh, Artemis and Miss Martian! And Superboy and Aqualad! This is amazing!" the cute stranger informed me. I didn't even realise that he had moved next to me. The guy I had been staring at, thanks to the information given to me by 'the stranger', was apparently Kid Flash. Once again, I found myself staring, unable to control myself. What was happening to me?

"I said, who are you?" Robin repeated, stepping forward and revealing the half of him that was hidden behind Kid Flash. In a second, the guy with the blonde streaked hair looked at me, hoping that I would be the one to talk this time, but I had nothing to say. I just found myself stuttering a whisper.

"I-I… Don't know…" I mumbled, one arm over my stomach and the other playing with my hair.

"Aw, can we keep 'em?" I heard Artemis mumbled sarcastically to Miss Martian, who just continued to stare at us. Suddenly, someone stepped forward. He was a big man who looked like he was dressed up in a Halloween costume.

"Why are you here? How did you get in?" he asked forcefully, sending a shiver up my spine and a strange feeling to my head, as if someone had just knocked me in the back of the head. I felt my eyes close, but I could still hear every word.

"Is she okay?" I heard someone mumbled.

"Uh, let me just say, it's a huge pleasure to really meet you, though these circumstances might not be completely appropriate. Anyway, I'm… uh… I'll get back to you on that… And I have no idea who she is either. We just… came here," cute guy explained. I could hear a little bit of confusion in his voice, but for the most part, he was very believable. Brownie points, more than likely.

"Why shouldn't we have you thrown out of here for trespassing?" the man boomed again, stepping forward with a very stern look on his face.

"Um, Batman? Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on them. I mean, she looks so scared…" I heard Miss Martian say to 'Batman'. I opened an eye and looked up, but I couldn't see anything. After about three footsteps, I heard another man speak.

"Stay back here. You don't know what they can do," he whispered, but I could still hear him.

"I don't either…" I mumbled to myself, hoping no one would hear up.

"Aw, come on, Uncle J'onn! We have to know whether they really are a threat!" Miss Martian insisted, her footsteps coming closer to me.

"Hey, are you okay? Do you really not know why you're here?" I continued to stay silent, deciding anything that I said would probably have me dead by the end of the night.

"Oh… Um… Do you know what happened? What brought you here?" Again, I made no attempt to respond, but it seemed Miss Martian had other plans. She grabbed my hand lightly, which sent a chill down my spine, and dragged me back to the people that were in the cave with us.

"We really need to get to know them! If they were out to hurt us, then they would have done it by now!" Miss Martian insisted, smiling at me. I looked at everyone, the big guys included, but every time I looked at a Young Justice member, I felt my eyes lock for an extra few seconds with their own. I didn't deserve to be there. I didn't deserve to be in the presence of people who were superior to me in every way. I didn't know how I knew they were…

I just knew.

As I looked at everyone, they all seemed to be smiling at me. All except one. Artemis. Instead, she had walked back slightly and was actually scowling at me. I knew now that I definitely wasn't wanted. Lowering my head, I continued to stare at the ground.

"You can't remember anything. You can't help them at all. Why are you even here? All you're going to do is get in their way. You can't even remember your own name!" I thought to myself, closing my eyes again and feeling people moving closer to me.

"Don't worry, we'll find out your name," I heard Miss Martian say, but when I looked up, she didn't say anything. I felt myself jerk my hand out of hers as I took a few steps away in shock and fear. But soon, I was being pushed back toward the entire gang by the cute guy.

Everything was starting to scare me. The fact I didn't know anything about myself, the fact that I was practically naked and the fact that Miss Martian had just gotten inside of my head!

"Oh, sorry… Forgot…" I heard her say aloud.

I nodded and smiled slightly, looking back up at her. Miss Martian's smile was so sweet, it made you just want to smile in return.

"Wait… Wait… Are you really… Are you really Batman? And Superman? And Red Tornado, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Black Canary?" The cute guy asked excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other. I just stared, unsure of what he was talking about. The only person I recognised was a man with a big 'S' on his outfit.

Superman.

"So, you really don't know your name?" Robin and Kid Flash asked at the same time, then looking at each other awkwardly. I nodded again, stepping closer to them but still refusing to talk, but as soon as I made a move, I felt the back of my shirt falling off; I didn't really want to be walking around in a bra and short shorts.

Confused glances bore into me as I quickly threw my hands behind my back and started backing away.

"Hey, it's okay, I've got you, and call me M'gann," Miss Martian reassured me, turning me around and following me, directing me to another room. She called for cute guy to follow, who just slowly tagged along, bidding farewell to the Justice League.

As we continued walking through the cave, everything felt so new to me, yet somewhat familiar. Eventually, we arrived at a strange looking, kind of metallic room.

"Uh, you can change in here. I brought you some clothes to change into, too," M'gann told me with a smile. Again, I returned the gesture, but this time, I was a little more enthusiastic.

"Oh, and you can take turns at getting dressed. There's only this one room available. I'm just down the road if you need anything," she added, throwing some clothes at cute guy, who just looked at me, confused.

"What's with the act?" he shouted, a little annoyed. I simply stepped back, not wanting to stand too close to him. I had been feeling so weird… Especially around the boys… No wonder I didn't seem to be getting along with cute guy. For what felt like the hundredth time that day, I remained silent and looked at my clothes. I didn't really know what to think of them.

The colouring was black, silver, and green; a combination that seemed familiar as well, but I didn't know why. The top was what seemed like a long-sleeved bra, with silver rimming the outline. It was mainly black, with silver sleeves that went down to cover my hands as well as my arms. At my shoulder, there were slits that divided the straps from the rest of the sleeve, but the straps and sleeves were still connected.

My pants were tights that were black on one leg, silver on the other and green around the waist. A red 'T' was imprinted on the right side of the waist on the pants, taking up only a little bit of space where the green spread around.

The shoes were flat boots that came nearly up to my knees. They were black, with 'T's also imprinted on them, but on the outside of the tips. The ridge of the shoe was threaded with silver and a green ribbon laced them. I was starting to get the feeling that this choice of outfit was design for something more than just casual wear.

As I held up my outfit, cute guy just smiled at me, then noticed my outfit.

"Wow… That's hot… What letter does yours have? Mine has a 'C'… I hope they're not trying to insult me…" he commented, looking off into the distance, a little doubtful about his outfit. It was black and dark blue, with red also for the letter. His had a massive 'C' imprinted in the centre of the chest.

"Mine's… 'T'…" I whispered, staring absently mindedly at the letter on my pants. Perhaps 'T' had something to do with my name or something in my life?

"Why does this one thing keep coming back to me?" I heard cute guy complaining, sitting on a seat that was near him. It matched the rest of the room in its metallic look and feel. I just shot him a confused look and watched as he walked behind a room divider to change into his outfit.

"I think I'm supposed to be called Cade… I don't know why though…" he thought, striking a heroic pose, which I simply giggled at. Did I have to be so helpless and… weak?

As soon as 'Cade' finished changing, I stood behind the divider, sighing in confusion. What was really going on here? I needed to know. Ripping off what was left of my beige singlet and denim shorts, I started to put on my outfit, finding it a lot easier to put on than it looked. The shirt was made of some strange material that actually moved with my body, not against it.

"Um, is it okay if the team and Justice League ask you a few questions? You can take a group each, I guess," I heard M'gann's voice from the door, immediately followed by the agreement of Cade.

"Sure, send 'em in!" Cade exclaimed happily. I was still putting my pants on when I heard them all scuttling to the door.

"Let me past!" I heard Kid Flash yelled, followed by a similar sentiment by Robin.

"Don't give me orders!" another voice boomed. I didn't know who it was, but I was sure it was one of the older two boys.

"Um, excuse me, but are you ready?" M'gann asked, standing next to the divider, quickly followed by the boys. I knew Artemis wasn't there; why on Earth would she want to talk to me? I figured that she wouldn't want another person in the group. Especially with what happened between her and the gang…

But how did I know any of that?

With a final tug, I pulled on my right boot, the last item of clothing, and slowly walked around the divider, feeling awkward and self-conscious.

"Wow… You look… Amazing…" Kid Flash flashed me a smile and started walking up to me, followed by the rest of the gang.

"He's right. You look really nice," she complimented, looking at her own outfit and losing her smile a little. I placed my hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"M'gann, you look beautiful. Don't think otherwise," I told her, tilting my head slightly so she knew I wasn't lying. M'gann was the only one who really made me feel welcome. I knew I had to make her feel that I accepted her kindness.

"Wow, she can talk!" Kid exclaimed, looking excited.

"KF, I think we've already had this conversation," Robin nudged him, smiling at me. Suddenly, I felt my eyes draw toward Kid Flash again. Similar to what happened earlier, but this time, it was longer. I stared into his amazing turquoise eyes and I felt some strange connection. I didn't know what it was, but I could feel my energy draining again.

"Hey, are you two alright?" Robin asked, stepping between myself and Kid, cutting off the connection.

"Wh-what just happened?" I asked softly, rubbing my head.

That's when I heard Kid Flash come back to reality as well. "I don't know… but I liked it!"

"Well, I'm whelmed," Robin stated, smiling at me again. I looked into his eyes for a second and I felt the same thing happen again… And then somehow Aqualad and Superboy were caught in my gaze. I heard Kid Flash and M'gann trying to communicate with us, but to no avail. My energy was being drained more and more every second, until I could barely stand. After another ten seconds or so, I felt the connection break, and I collapse on the metallic floor, my chest barely able to breathe fast enough to reproduce the oxygen I needed.

"Hey, are you okay?" M'gann asked, helping me to my feet.

"T-Tempest… Call me… Tempest…" I mumbled, using her shoulder as support for my legs, but that didn't work. Suddenly, I felt myself lifted off of the ground on placed onto the bed by strong, masculine arms. I looked up to see Superboy, smiling at me, although very subtly.

"Tempest. It means storm. Why are you naming yourself Tempest?" I heard Aqualad ask, very kindly too. I shook my head. I didn't know why. It just came to me. The 'T' on the outfit. It must have had a deeper meaning than just being a letter.

"I'm… not sure…" I replied, rubbing my head again. As I went to stand up again, I found myself falling onto Kid Flash accidentally. My first instinct was to blush and again, I found myself staring into his eyes, but this time, I wanted to.

"Hi," he smirked at me, having a hold of my arms. I smiled in return and melted a little.

"Hi," I replied, blinking rapidly and losing control of my legs, which collapsed underneath me.

"Hey, M'gann, I'll take her from here," Kid Flash offered, but his offer was refused because 'I needed to rest'. After Kid Flash and Robin lifted me back onto the bed, and with a bit of annoyance, the boys walked out of the room, each giving me one last glance before they left.

"They'll need a bit of time to adjust to you being here," M'gann explained, flashing me a final smile before leaving. As time passed and thoughts roamed my head, I eventually found my eyes closing and myself drifting off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Hate of Love

Everything was so blurry when I awoke. I couldn't see anything properly, but I could hear someone say, "Good, she's awake." I rubbed my eyes to see who it was, and jumped when I saw everyone that I had seen before standing around my bed; Kid Flash, M'gann, Robin, Aqualad, Superboy and all the Justice League. Even Artemis was there, standing behind the Young Justice squad, but she didn't seem too impressed. To my right, Cade was kneeling next to me, though I was unsure why. Giving him a confused look, I saw Artemis push her way in front of everyone, her arms still folded and her face still stern.

"Either prove you're worth it or get out!" she cried, stepping forward with her hands jerked to the side in a violent stance.

As I looked at her, I saw M'gann and some of the guys trying to pull her back.

"The thing is… I'm not worth it… I know that already… But I haven't GOT anywhere to go…" I responded, dropping my head and twiddling my fingers, "If you want me to go, fine…" Standing up, I started for the door, before having Aqualad grab my hand to stop me.

"Tempest, you do not yet know that you are not worth it. But I believe that if you have nowhere else to go, you are welcome to stay here. Perhaps not as one of us, but part of our team," he reassured, releasing my hand and placing his own on my shoulder. I smiled at his kindness and then looked at the Justice League, hoping they could shine some light on the subject.

With a step forward, Batman began to speak. "You'll be able to stay on one condition. You will stay behind for missions and not interfere with anything. Cleaning will be your duty and you'll have to find ways to keep yourself occupied. If anything happens whilst we are away, it will be on you." I nodded excitedly and jumped up and down on the spot, almost drawn to hugging Batman, though I thought better of the situation.

"You can hug me if you'd like," Kid Flash smirked at me, moving right next to me. I smiled at him, but moved away slowly, feeling an invasion of privacy.

"Dude," Kid Flash exclaimed after being nudged in the side by a smirking Robin.

"Kid Mouth means we're happy to have you here," Robin substituted, smiling at me. I smiled in reply and shook his hand. At least I wasn't a complete outcast.

~~~.~~~

As I followed the groups around the cave, I found myself talking with Robin and Kid Flash. Cade was busy talking to the Justice League.

"It's too bad that you can't be part of our team. I think you would have been an awesome addition," Kid Flash smirked at me, moving closer. I simply lowered my head again and smiled at the ground.

"No, for once he's serious. We're sure you would have done great," Robin added, placing a hand on my shoulder. Raising my head, I looked at them both and smiled and even bigger smile. This was the first time that I could remember that I actually felt wanted.

"Thanks, you guys," I responded. I felt a zap of excitement travel through me as we continued walking through the cave.

"So, about that hug?" Kid Flash asked, looking at me out the corner of his eye. I just looked at him and kept walking.

"Really?" I heard Robin ask in the distance. I already knew that this team would be a very interesting bunch of characters.

~~~.~~~

When we finally arrived in the main area of the HQ, everyone stopped around Kaldur and awaited his orders, including Cade.

"You excited?" he asked me, moving next to me again, just like the first time we met in the cave.

"About what? I'm staying here…" I replied, looking at him with only a raise of the left side of my lips.

"Oh, right… Right…" Cade merely just continued looking at Kaldur, hoping that he would say something exciting, but he just stood there, looking at Batman.

"Do you have any missions for us, Batman?" Kaldur asked, walking toward the Caped Crusader, who had the same look of displeasure as he always did.

"No. There are no missions for you currently. Just be ready, he will be tested soon," Batman responded, pointing at Cade when he was being referred to and sounding monotonous; there was nothing new with him.

"You kids can take a day off today. Have a look around the place," Superman instructed, raising his hands slightly to add emphasis to what he was saying. I was already making my way to the kitchen, ready to do the dishes. Like everything else, the kitchen was rather metallic, though it did have a kitchen feel to it, having a proper bench that wasn't completely made out of metal. Running the water, I cupped my hands under it and splashed some onto my face. Everything had happened so quickly and I was feeling so confused. What was real and what was I just imagining?

After not being able to hear them talking anymore, I heard Kid Flash state that he'd find her, which I guessed meant me.

"Hey, beautiful, what are you doing in here?" he asked, leaning on the island counter behind me.

"Nothing. I thought that you were all 'taking a day off'," I responded, my back against the sink.

"Yeah, but that includes you. Unless you don't want to come." I lit up, really feeling accepted.

"Of course I do!" I smiled and found myself feeling like a little child, getting excited over nothing major. The only thing was that it was major to me. It was the first time that I felt like things were actually going somewhat right. Grabbing my hand, Kid Flash led me back out to the rest of the gang; I could feel myself blushing really badly.

"Honey, she's home!" he announced, presenting me again to everyone else.

"Where did you go?" M'gann asked, moving close to me.

"Uh… the kitchen…" I said, ashamed. M'gann just smiled at me.

"Well, are we going or not?" she exclaimed, lifting off of the ground. The only thing I could say was, "Whoa."

With a roar of appreciation, the entire Young Justice group started heading out the cave, myself and Cade included, though he wasn't looking entirely happy. As soon as we stepped outside, I was gob-smacked. It was beautiful. The ocean was right next to the cave.

"This is amazing…" I exclaimed under my breath, running out toward the ocean but making sure I didn't get wet.

"You sure are…" Kid Flash spoke, coming back to reality when I turned around and gave him a strange look.

"I mean, yeah, it sure is," he quickly changed his story.

"Nice save, Kid Mouth," Robin teased.

"Dude!"

I turned around to see Cade standing alone by a tree. Feeling a little bad for him, I decided that talking to him could be a good idea. Maybe I would remember something?

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, standing next to him and leaning on the same tree that he was.

"Yeah, just swell," he replied sarcastically. Giving him an intrigued look, I hoped that he would elaborate, which he did, but not without some show of annoyance first. In this case, a sigh.

"I wanted to be tested, you know? I was waiting for it. I don't know why but I feel like I deserve it. You wouldn't know, so I don't expect you to understand," he explained, setting a little fire in the pit of my stomach. How would he know if I didn't know what that felt like? As annoyed as I was, I managed to keep my cool and stay somewhat nice to him.

"There's more to me than you'll know, Cade. I don't know much about myself either, but that's what I want to find out. I want to find out about my past, my present and my future. I know how it feels to want to be wanted, to fit in somewhere. Trust me. But you have to be patient," I tried reassuring him, but to not avail.

"That's easy for you to say! Ever since you've gotten here, you've had everything handed to you on a silver platter! Well I haven't! I've had to work my way through it and convince the Justice League that I'm something! It's been hard, but not for you! You're nothing, but everyone thinks that you'll be a 'great addition to the team'! Well, you know what? You'd just make the team crumble! You don't believe in yourself and I know why! Because there's nothing about you to believe in! No super speed, no super strength, no super powers! But I know that I'll find something! It'll just take time for me! So leave me alone with your little sob story of 'poor, little Tempest who can't do anything right!' Because I know it's all true! Just not for me. For you," Cade shouted at me, shocking me completely out of my mind. I didn't know what I had done, nor what I had said, that made Cade that annoyed that he'd go all out in making me sound like a complete fool. But the worst part was…

I believed him.

Still leaning against the tree, in shock, I saw everyone just staring at us, looking of shock on their faces too. Everyone except Artemis. If anything, she looked somewhat pleased.

"I'm leaving!" Cade shouted, storming off. A sense of danger overcame me and I immediately saw what it was. A piece of cement from a building nearby had somehow come apart from the building and was hurtling straight for Cade. It seemed like I was the only one who noticed it, seeing as everyone else was busy looking at me, feeling confused or quite happy.

Closer and closer, the large piece of cement flew towards Cade, showing no signs of stopping. I had no superpowers, so there was no way that I could help him, but I knew I had to do something. Signalling the team would have taken too long, so I could do nothing but stare at the giant boulder that was hurtling straight for its unsuspecting victim. With only a few metres to go, I found a strange power rushing straight through me, followed by the movement of the trees. In less than a second, the tree I had been leaning on moved from behind me, causing me to fall straight backwards, and stopped right next to Cade, catching the piece of cement in its foliage.

I had no idea what had just happened, nor did I know what I had to do with it, but soon, there was another piece of cement, this time falling from overhead. By now, the team had realised something was wrong and only saw the strange sight of a tree with a massive piece of cement contained in its leaves. Once again, they didn't notice the second piece of cement until it was too late.

Knowing that it would crush Cade, I knew I had to do something, but what could I do? I ran forward, hoping to push Cade out of the way in time, but I wouldn't get there in time. My legs weren't fast enough. Suddenly, another strange power overwhelmed me, and I felt myself change into a bat, right behind a large, thick tree. Flying through the air, I had no idea what was going on, until I felt Cade's skin touch my wings. With a very strange push, I managed to knock him out of the way, but the second piece of cement was still coming. Closer. And closer. Until it finally connected with something.

Me.

~~~.~~~

I could hear voices, but I didn't know why. Maybe I was dead and the voices were from heaven? Or maybe I was in hell… Either way, I could hear voices. Familiar voices.

"What was that? I swear, I saw a bat…" a feminine voice asked, sounding extremely confused and worried.

"I do not know. But that tree was not there a minute ago…" another masculine voice stated.

"Wait… Where's Tempest?" yet another voice asked. Footsteps came nearer to me; all I could do was pray that they would realise that I was under the piece of cement.

"Superboy, Kaldur! I'm sure I saw something under that boulder!" the same feminine voice as before announced worriedly. I just laid there, under the boulder. For some reason, it didn't squish me completely, it only just touched my head.

Within a few minutes, I could feel the rock moving, followed by the bright light of the sun. I had landed on my back, thanks to the cement boulder.

"Oh, my gosh… It's Tempest!" I saw Megan standing right above me, only just blocking out some of the sun's rays. I could only manage a mumble in reply; everything was kind of blurry and my head was dizzy. Suddenly, something lifted me out of the crater that was left in the ground and when I looked, I saw it was the fuzzy outline of Superboy. I tried to thank him, but nothing would come out in English.

I could feel myself being lowered onto the ground, still without much grip on reality. I could hear words, but I couldn't comprehend them. Then something came into my vision. Two somethings actually. One was dressed in yellow and red, whilst the other wore red and black. Three guesses who they were.

"Is she alright?" I heard Kid Flash ask, kneeling down in front of me.

"Does she look alright? She looks worse than you in the morning," Artemis stated, walking past me and moving next to Cade, who was frozen to the spot, staring at me in shock.

"Yeah, like you'd look better if you just had a NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE!" Kid Flash retorted, looking at Artemis and then back at me.

"Don't worry, you don't look that bad," Robin reassured me with a friendly smile. I tried returning it, but nothing came except a wheeze and light-headedness.

~~~.~~~

When I finally was able to stand up properly, I immediately noticed an evil glare boring through my skull. Cade. Wasn't he happy that I had just saved his life, twice? But I wasn't even sure that it was really me that did it. Maybe it was someone else, I just got caught in the way.

Artemis was standing next to him, so I knew this wouldn't end well. I had no idea why she hated me so much – maybe she didn't want anyone else in the team? But then, why was she so interested in talking to Cade?

"What was that?" he asked me as Artemis walked off. Everyone else was gathered around in a circle, discussing something.

"What was -?" I started, before being cut off.

"You know damn well what I mean. What did you do that for? Why? You didn't just let it crush me! What the hell is wrong with you?!" he shouted again. I was starting to get the feeling that this guy didn't like my help.

"But, I thought…" I was starting to feel really nervous, so I turned around to go to the rest of the team, but Cade grabbed a tight grip of my arm and forced me to face him.

"What did you think? What the hell did you think? Did you really think that you'd be doing me a favour? That you'd be saving my life? Well, you know what? I didn't need your help! I could have shown that I could save myself! I didn't need you there, trying to help me! You're nothing but a mess! You can't do anything properly! You used a TREE to stop the first bit of cement and then, you turned into a bat! A bloody bat! Surely, your idiocy wouldn't have become you, but apparently it has. And quite quickly too. So, if you're feeling proud of what you've done, forget it! You haven't helped anyone, especially not me! They don't really want you in their team, they're just playing you to make you feel better! And now, I have no chance to be in their team either, because you decided to be the bloody hero and 'save me' from the bloody blocks of brick! Well, you know what? You'll never amount to anything, so don't even try! You think that the boys are interested in you, especially Robin and Kid Flash? Well guess what! Your powers of seduction can only go so far! They don't really care about you and if you're alright! They just care about when you're leaving! You may not be able to see it, but I can tell! Your 'seduction techniques' haven't and won't affect me! So before you embarrass yourself anymore, why don't you just leave while you can!" he spat at me, barely taking breaths. I watched as his face became redder and redder and felt tears start to well in my eyes.

Was I really that bad a person? For the last time, I turned around, and again, saw everyone staring at me. But this time, I wasn't able to handle it. I was able to handle everything that I had just been told. I wasn't able to handle what he had said about Robin and Kid Flash. I wasn't able to hand about everything he said about me! I stood there for many seconds, and when the tears hit my cheeks, I turned around and headed back inside. I had no idea why I was actually going inside, especially after what Cade said. Why didn't I just leave altogether?

Waddling through the cave, I eventually came back to the room, but when I saw Cade sitting on the bed, contemplating about something, I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea. I continued through the 'building', trying to find any room that wasn't occupied. I had no idea where I was, nor if anyone would find me, but I didn't care. Just as long as I wasn't getting in anybody's way.

Finally, I found a dark, empty room that was unoccupied and sat myself down on the silver floor in there. My head lowered, the tears flowed freely now. I wasn't sad that Cade had just gone off his rocker at me because I saved his life. I was sad because everything he said was true. At least, I felt everything he said was true.

Hours went by and I stayed in the room, not wanting to distract anyone else. Thoughts ran through my mind like a rollercoaster. It was probably true. They probably didn't want someone who couldn't control themself hanging around with them, getting in their way and ruining everything.

Suddenly, my head, which was stained by my tears, in my hands, I heard a knock at the door, followed by M'gann, who looked worried.

"Are you okay? We… we heard what Cade said… Well, some of it," she told me, sitting down next to me and putting her arm around my neck.

"What he said was true…" I admitted, feeling weak that I was agreeing with him. My back was still to the door, so that no one else could see my face.

"What did he say?" M'gann asked, stroking my back and wiping the tears away as I lifted my head from my hands. I took a deep breath in and looked at her.

"Well, I ruined any chance that he had of being part of something that he really wanted… Heh, it's funny how something with such a positive intent could end up so badly… Plus, there's nothing I can do here apart from get in your way. Even staying behind, I could screw up… I don't belong here! You guys are amazing! And I'm… not," I answered, stopping as soon as I started thinking of Kid Flash and Robin.

_He was too right about everything he said about Kid Flash and Robin… I'm an idiot… Being friendly, that's all it was. Why on Earth would they be interested in me? Really… All I can do is mess up. I'm not even fit to be here… _Suddenly, tears came to my eyes again, but I tried to fight them.

"Tempest?" M'gann asked, touching my cheek and moving my face to face her, "Do you really feel that way? About them, I mean. Because I can see the way they look at you. All of them, but those two especially. There's something there, I know. I may be from Mars, but I can tell Wally and Robin, they really feel something too. I can tell," M'gann reassured me, "and I'm really sorry… I can read people's minds, and I'm not supposed to, but I had to. I had to know what was wrong…"

I smiled at M'gann, stupid tears filling up my eyes again, but this time, it was in happiness. I could tell that she definitely cared.

"Why did you worry?" I asked, looking into her eyes.

"Because, I know how you feel. About being confused and not knowing whether you fit in or not… I'm just glad to see you're okay," she answered, looking down for a few seconds before giving me a hug. I held onto her tight for a little bit, knowing that she really was there for me.

"Thank you…" I whispered, my smile growing even more. At that point, I had a strange urge to turn around, and went bright red as soon as I did. In the doorway stood all the boys in the team; Kid Flash and Robin at the front and Superboy and Aqualad at the back.

"Well, this is awkward…" I heard Robin whisper to Kid Flash. I was looking at the boys, who seemed a little intrigued and confused.

"When do you get here?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as she could.

"Uh… When you came in. We were looking for her too," Robin answered, looking at me. I felt myself blushing even more. They were looking for me. They were looking for ME!

"And we saw you reading her mind. And kind of, you know, heard when we were mentioned…" Kid added.

"Right. You heard that. That's lovely…" I mumbled, hoping they wouldn't hear me, but I was wrong.

"Actually, yes. I am sure the boys would agree with M'gann's thoughts," Aqualad thought aloud, him and Superboy pushing Kid Flash and Robin into the room with myself and M'gann. By now, I was sure I was a human tomato.

"Well, we'll see you later, Tempest," M'gann bid me farewell, along with giving me a knowing wink. I wanted to be angry, but I couldn't. She was the nicest person here and I was in the same room as the two guys who I was starting to feel strangely about.

Romantically about. As sure as I was about what Cade said, M'gann's words buzzed through my head just as equally.

"So, uh…" I started, unsure about what I was supposed to say.

"Do you really think that?" Robin asked, placing his hand on my arm.

"Think what?"

"That we're amazing?" Kid Flash asked, a smirk on his face. I smiled at him and saw Robin's hand hit him over the back of the head, causing me to giggle at their childishness.

"That you only screw up? That you only get in the way? That you think you don't belong here?" Robin answered, giving Kid Flash a 'don't even say it' look.

With a sigh, I looked at them both and then up at the ceiling. "You are all so used to each other. You're like a family. I feel like I'm just pulling your family apart. I know, it's stupid, but I just do."

Looking at each other, both Kid Flash and Robin smiled at me and grabbed onto one of my hands each, making me turn into a ripe human tomato.

"We've always got room for a new addition in our family!" Kid Flash announced, smiling his adorable smile at me.

"Yeah! If we didn't want you here, you'd be out on the streets already, home or no home," Robin added, smiling boyishly at me. Both of them were absolutely gorgeous and even more so up close!

I smiled and thanked them, all three of us standing up, Robin and Kid Flash still holding onto my hands. As they let go, I looked at Robin and gave him a hug, thanking him for everything that he had said. As he walked out of the room, I realised that Kid Flash was still with me.

"Hm-hmm, what about my hug?" he joked, still smiling at me. I grinned in reply and wrapped my arms around him, holding on tight.

"You'll always be welcome here, no matter what Cade says," he whispered in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. As I released him from my grip, I felt his lips connect with my cheek.

"Don't forget that."


	4. Chapter 4 - Burning Love

"You and Cade will sleep here for the time being," Batman instructed myself and my 'foe', telling Aqualad to show Cade to his room and M'gann to take me back to the first room we were in.

"I thought you said there was only one room?" I asked as M'gann and I walked off. With an awkward giggle, M'gann simply told me that she forgot. Great timing.

"So… You, Robin and Kid Flash, hey?" M'gann spoke, nudging me softly and chuckling at me. I didn't know to respond to it, so I just smiled and thought about it.

"Hah, I guess…" I responded. Everything seemed to be going relatively well, apart from the part where a) I was stuck back at the headquarters and b) Cade had gone off his nut at me for saving him.

"So what exactly happened with Cade?" M'gann was looking at me with intent, seeming intrigued at the situation that had occurred between me and the guy I originally thought could help me out.

"You know… I'm not sure… One minute, I'm talking to him and he starts yelling at me, and the next, he's yelling at me again because I didn't want to see him crushed… By, you know, a giant piece of, uh, cement…" After a few minutes of continuing to walk, M'gann and I arrived back at the first room I had been in, apart from the headquarters.

"Well, that doesn't seem right at all... Anyway, we're here! Uh… again," M'gann stated, raising her arms to indicate what she was talking about.

"Ah… It's certainly… familiar," I responded, having a very brief look around the room.

"At least you'll remember where everything is!" she announced as a joke, flashing me a big grin. I sat on the bed and just looked at M'gann, deep in thought.

"Are you alright?" M'gann asked, seeming to be struggling not to read my mind.

"Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry. You're just so nice… It's hard to believe that you felt you didn't fit in. Like I said, you are all amazing… But…" I explained, thinking about the experience I had with Artemis and Cade.

"Artemis? She'll warm up to you soon enough. Just give her time. She's just a little upset that there's a 'newbie' in the team. I guess she wanted to be the last one in…" M'gann tried explaining, giving me a hug, "but don't worry. We're all here for you. Even Artemis. I'm sure she'll come around in time."

~~~.~~~

Walking out of the bedroom, we came back to the main headquarters, greeted by Black Canary, Red Tornado, all the Young Justice gang and Cade.

"You are all aware of the recent arrival of Tempest and Cade. They will be staying here, as Batman has already stated," Red Tornado reiterated, looking toward Cade, then me.

"Uh, Red, we already knew, so why are you telling us again?" Kid asked, racing to stand between myself and M'gann.

"Batman wished for me to re-inform you," Red Tornado put simply.

"Seeing as Superboy and I live here, we'll be looking after them… Well, I will. I'm not sure about Superboy," M'gann pointed out, giving a hopeful smile to Superboy, who sighed in agreement a few seconds later.

Only a few moments later, Robin and Kid Flash were arguing over who would be staying to keep myself and Cade company also, soon followed by Aqualad, being the team leader.

"Yay! So we'll all be here! Great, the more the merrier!" M'gann exclaimed in excitement, lifting off of the ground. I still wasn't quite used to that yet.

Looking over at Cade, I knew that something was wrong. Or, at least it seemed like something was wrong. He had the same unimpressed façade that he always seemed to wear now; I didn't know if it was my fault, though, or if he just acted like it was. It was starting to make me feel a little annoyed that he wasn't explaining anything to me. Especially the things that had the most to do with me!

"What's the time?" I mumbled sleepily, wiping my eyes the way I always did to try and keep myself away for a little longer.

"Aw, someone's sleepy. I'm not sure what the time is, but I think it's late," M'gann answered, thinking about my query.

"Not just yet… Maybe soon…" I told everyone, stretching and then quickly bringing my arms to my side in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Kid Flash replied, pretending to yawn and stretch, putting his arm around my neck. I looked at him and smirked; I saw Robin scowling from the corner of my eye.

"Well, why don't we just have a little 'get to know you' session? We can get to know the newbies!" Robin suggested, moving in between myself and Kid Flash and removing Kid's arm from around my neck.

"That's a great idea!" M'gann exclaimed. She was back on the ground, but I was watching her carefully to see if she would levitate again. For some reason, it made me feel weird.

We all walked toward the lounge room, which was right near the kitchen, and sat down in front of a massive big-screened TV. I heard a "Whoa," escape my lips, but nothing more.

When we all sat down, I made sure to specifically sit between Superboy and Aqualad, just so I didn't have to worry about any drama with Robin or Kid.

"So, Tempest, do you want to tell us a little about yourself?" Aqualad offered, motioning for me to start. Looking around awkwardly, I saw Cade sitting alone, rather unhappily. I didn't know whether he'd hate me more or like me more for I said next.

"Why don't we let Cade have a start?" I suggested softly, looking at the boy who seemed very quiet.

"Okay. Cade, tell us about you," Aqualad restated. I attempted a smile at Cade, but he didn't seem very impressed at all, though something told me that if I was the one to start off, he still wouldn't be very appreciative. There was no pleasing this guy!

"Like there's really anything to tell. I can't remember most of my life except for the time I've spent in this hell-hole… Being part of this team was all I really wanted. Being part of any team. But no, I don't even get that…" Cade explained, giving me a cold, dirty look at the last point of his sentence. I just stared at the floor, knowing exactly what he meant. Suddenly, I felt someone putting their hand on my shoulder. When I looked up, I saw it was Superboy, attempting to muster up a smile.

"Tempest? What about you?" Superboy asked, his hand still on my shoulder.

"Uh… Well, I… I don't remember basically any of what happened in my life… All I remember is landing in the headquarters of you guys… And then… You know the rest… I still don't know if what happened outside was me or just me getting in the way of something…" I tried explaining, hearing an unappreciated sigh from Cade.

"You just HAD to bring that up! You had to bring up what happened outside, didn't you?! Just because you found out that you have powers, unlike some of us! When are you going to cut ordinary kids like me a break? Really!" he shouted, storming out of the room like a bullet.

"So… that's the kind of thing that he said to you…" M'gann realised, trying to smile at me. I definitely wasn't in the mood to smile. Or speak. It felt like nothing I tried doing for him was good enough, but I wasn't about to give up. I was going to try and get him to work with me without any dramas as much as I could.

"Well, how about we introduce ourselves? I just realised that we haven't done that yet…" Kid Flash suggested, winking at me, "You can call me Wally."

I tried to keep a straight face, but ended up smiling like I was about to laugh, gaining a confused, "What?" from Wally.

"I think his parents were confused when naming him. I'm Artemis," Artemis joked, not bothering to look at me. M'gann and Artemis were sitting next to each other, right near Wally and Robin.

"You already know my name!" M'gann exclaimed happily, grinning brightly at me. I couldn't help but return the gesture.

"My name is Kaldur Ahum… But you can call me Kaldur," Aqualad explained, also smiling at me. And finally, it came to Superboy.

"Uh… Conner. Kent. My name is Conner Kent," he stated, looking at M'gann, who smiled at him. M'gann seemed to like smiling very much.

"Wow… It's amazing that you all trust me… I know this sounds really, REALLY stupid, but…" I started, an awkward smirk appearing on my face, "What is it, exactly, that this team does? I understand the mission thing, but no one's really explained anything to me…"

I heard a 'Pfft' from Artemis, who just walked out of the room. If I wasn't feeling awkward and stupid already, I certainly was now.

"We are the team they call for covert missions. 'Junior Justice League' as Red Arrow calls it. Batman gives us our missions. We're glad to have you as part of our team," Kaldur explained to me. I guessed I was starting to pick up on the concept.

"Thank you… Oh, right… I think I remember some things about it… Red Arrow was Speedy, right? Green Arrow's partner? But he believed that he was replaced by Artemis when… he went… solo…" I asked, confused by what I had just said. I had no idea how I knew that, it just seemed to come back to me. My stomach tightened as I thought about what had just run through my head.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep… Or try…" I muttered, walking out of the room to be greeted by Artemis.

"How did you know that?" she ordered, looking very sure of herself. Of course, I wasn't.

"I really… don't know…" I answered, hoping I wouldn't be pressed on the issue. With nothing more than a look, Artemis started to walk back into the room where everyone else except myself and Cade were seated. Thoughts blasted through my mind. Confusing thoughts at that. How did I know what had happened with Red Arrow? How did I even know who he was?

The walk back to my room was long; I could barely concentrate and found myself nearly colliding with walls a few times, but finally, I arrived.

"Wow, Tempest. You're on a one-way trip to Crazyland, I swear!" I mumbled to myself, lying down in my bed. It took a long time, but eventually, I fell asleep.

At first, everything was fine. I had a dream about a tap dancing rat. But then, things started going haywire as the background started peeling away, the rat stopped tap dancing and started coming for me, its teeth gnashing and its claws exposed. Then, shadows appeared from the darkness, shadows in the shape of spiders; the thing I hated the absolute most. If there was anything I would rather die than face, it was a spider. The spider silhouettes came closer, their pincers clicking together and they're many eyes focused on me.

Then suddenly, I saw the team. For a split second, I had an ounce of hope, thinking that they would save me from the horrible monsters that lied ahead.

But I was wrong.

Kid Flash and Robin came over to me, gripping onto my wrists and holding me against a wall that I didn't know was behind me. Then over came Artemis, who pulled an arrow from her quiver and held it tightly against my throat. I didn't see M'gann, but I could feel someone holding my jaw closed and onto my throat. And finally, along came Superboy and Aqualad, who threw punches as strong as rocks straight at my stomach, stopping any air from entering my lungs.

At that point, I found myself awake, but I couldn't breathe. No matter how hard I tried, no air would enter my lungs still. It was just like the nightmare, except no one was punching me while the others held me down. Time started to pass and I could feel myself fading little by little as the oxygen continued to circulate the room, not me.

In an attempt to stand up, I tugged my arms, but they wouldn't budge. They had been locked to the bed while I was sleeping. How was I supposed to get help now?!

All I could do was make as much noise as I could, hoping that someone would notice. I counted the seconds that passed until someone had noticed me. Twenty-three seconds. I continued waiting, jingling the chains that connected me to the bed. One minute.

One minute, thirty seconds.

Two minutes. I was really starting to be out of it, too weak to make any noise anymore. All I could do now, was pray that someone would find me before it was too late.

~~~.~~~

I felt myself becoming unconscious, the darkness hitting me like a brick. After a few seconds, I could feel what was going on, but my eyes were too weak to open for me to see it. I felt something over my legs, but I couldn't see it; my nerves only picked up bits and pieces of what was happening. Suddenly, I felt something press against my lips and insert air into my mouth. After about ten seconds, I was able to breathe again, as well as see who my saviour was. But I was a little shocked to see what was happening. When my eyes opened, I saw Robin lying over me, his arms and legs holding him up at my sides. His lips were pressed on mine, although now, he wasn't just giving me mouth to mouth anymore.

He was actually kissing me. I attempted to pull my arms from the chairs, in instinct of putting them around his neck to embrace him, to no avail. This lasted for a few minutes before a surprising clearing of the throat sent me out of my skin.

"Are you done?" Kaldur asked, standing by the bed, his arms folded. As soon as we both heard him speak, Robin jumped up awkwardly and stood next to me, starting to pick the locks to the chains. I looked at Robin out the corner of my eye and blushed.

What had just happened?

"She wasn't breathing. I don't know what happened, but I saw her lying there and her chest and stomach weren't moving. Like I said, she wasn't breathing," Robin defended himself, concentrating on the locks. Eventually, he managed to undo one, but there was still the other one left.

"Right, so you decided to lock lips with her?" Kid Flash asked angrily, folding his arms. I looked up to see everyone staring, but just dropped my head back onto the pillow. Sure, no one cares that I just had a near death experience… Again!

"It wasn't like that, I-"

"Rob, really. We all saw it!"

"Hello, nearly dead girl on the bed here!" I called, feeling irritable from what had happened prior Robin arriving. Robin had just unlocked the second chain, so I could sit up properly.

"Oh, right. Sorry, beautiful. What happened?" Kid Flash asked, moving on the opposite side of me to Robin.

"Do you think I really know that? I was unconscious and Robin came in and… helped me out. Why would I know what happened to me?" I asked, irritated. But I started feeling bad when I saw Wally looking a little upset that I had just had a go at him. "You know what… I'm sorry… I know you're only trying to help… But I really don't remember much besides what just happened… Except for the nightmare that I just had…" I apologised, mumbling the last bit so softly that even I could barely hear it.

"What nightmare?" Conner asked, moving closer to me in intrigue, followed by the rest of the group.

"What?" M'gann asked, looking at me confusedly.

"She said that she had a nightmare before blacking out. What was it?" Did I really have to answer? I would sound like an idiot!

"You know, don't worry… It doesn't matter… It was nothing," I insisted, but Conner was more persistent and persuasive.

"Tempest, this could help us out. Please tell us," he persuaded me, getting nothing but a sigh out of me.

"Fine… But if you laugh," I threatened, giving Robin an evil look, who just crossed his heart.

"Well, at first it started with a tap dancing rat," I had only just started and already, Robin was struggling not to laugh, though I could see Conner giving him a death stare, "but then… It stopped dancing and started coming for me, looking just about ready to rip me to shreds… Then… it was spiders… I hate spiders… And then… you…"

I lowered my head and thought about what I said. Knowing that they would be confused, I continued.

"Wally and Robin came in and held me against the wall, Artemis held an arrow to my throat and M'gann held my jaw closed so I couldn't scream, along with my throat, while you and Aqualad basically beat me to what felt like death completely by punching me repeatedly in the stomach... It was so realistic, I worried it could be real… And then, when I woke up, I couldn't breathe…" I told Conner, sounding like a patient seeing their psychiatrist. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say.

"Tempest, we would never do that! You know we wouldn't!" M'gann insisted, rushing up to me in the hopes I would believe her.

"I knew, I just-," I started, before a pain took over me. It wasn't a sharp pain, but it hurt. It felt more like the kind of pain that you get when someone punches you were you're bruised. It covered my entire stomach. Leaning back so that I was lying on the bed again, I put my hands over my stomach in an attempt to stop the pain, but it didn't work.

"Tempest, where did you say we 'punched you'?" Kaldur asked, moving up next to me and running his hand along my stomach, his face full of confusion and slight anger. I winced in pain and found myself nearly unable to speak. The pain was coming back even worse now.

"R-right where your h-hand is," I managed through gritted teeth. The urge to scream was starting to overtake me, but I was able to control myself.

"This is not good…" Kaldur's voice was soft and worrying; I was the one it happened to, could anyone give me any information? "We need to take her to the League."

I felt myself being picked up again by Conner, being as gentle as he could.

"Can you walk?" he asked, just looking at me with no real emotion apart from determination. I nodded reluctantly. Whether I could walk or not, I wasn't sure. But I would definitely give it a go; I didn't want to be seen as someone who couldn't do anything for themself. As soon as my feet touched the floor, my stomach tightened again and the pain coursed through me once again.

"I got ya!" Wally exclaimed, running up next to me and helping me to stand up. Thanking him, I was left with no choice but to lean on him, my arm around his neck.

We continued walking out of the room, M'gann and Artemis following behind, with Conner and Kaldur in front of them and Robin and Wally beside me. I forgot where we were, but as soon as we reached Cade's room, I started to regain my memory. M'gann had told me where his room was by accident when we were talking and I was intent on settling things with him.

"Uh, thanks. I have to do something quickly. I'll meet you at the main headquarters," I explained, removing my arm from Wally's neck. With a nod, they all said that they'd see me soon.

I could only hope.

"Cade? Are you in?" I asked, only slightly poking my head around the edge of the ajar door. Suddenly, I could feel something pulling me into his room. Some strange force, followed by the slamming of his door. The back wall of the room came closer until I finally felt myself pinned against it. To my throat was a lightning bolt. For some reason, I wasn't dead already, but there was nothing to say he wouldn't kill me anyway.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Cade asked darkly, sitting in a contemplating position on his bed.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry…" I choked up past the bolt. Squirming did no good; it just sent minor shocks through me.

"Sorry for what? Sorry for ruining my life? Sorry for ruining my relationships? Sorry for ruining me? You know, when I first saw you, I thought you would help me. I thought you'd be there for me. But no. Instead, you wanted them all to yourself. And what do I get? I get the bloody old ones! Sure, they have experience, but they have no interest in recruiting people like me! People who need to get experience! Thanks for everything!" he accused, sending a major shock through me. I screamed and squirmed, but nothing made him stop. I could see the darkness in his eyes, the enjoyment, as he watched the pain writhe through me.

"N-no, it was y-your ch…oice. I h-had no-nothing-!" I tried saying, but each strike of the bolt stopped what I wanted to say from touching the air in front of me.

"Shut up, woman! You're nothing! Fine, you can control plants, but you know what? I can make your nightmares reality! I can make you see everything that you don't want to see!" Spiders. The only thing that ran through my mind at that moment was the spiders that I saw in my nightmare. They plagued my mind and I shivered and continued squirming against the wall.

I knew that I couldn't take much more.

~~~.~~~

Suddenly, a loud bang at the door rang out, but neither myself nor Cade were surprised. I couldn't be; the spiders were increasing and I could feel them roaming my skin and biting into my flesh. Cade was too busy making sure that I suffered as much as he wanted. But when his door was burst through, that's when he started noticing and the spiders started to ease up.

Then, with a final shock that completely burnt my throat, I was released from the lightning bolt, hearing Artemis telling me to run. I didn't know what was happening, so I just followed her orders and ran out of the room as quickly as I could, not even bothering to look back.

I arrived at the main headquarters, the Justice League and most of the Young Justice team awaiting me. The looks of confusion and shock as I entered the room, battered and bruised more than originally shocked all of them, especially Kaldur.

"What happened?" he asked, stepping forward. Following his lead, I stepped forward as well.

"Cade deserves to be a part of this more than me. He's hard working, determined and will get the job done. I will only slow the team down," I stated, trying to smile but it hurt too much.

"Tempest, what happened?" Kaldur repeated, sounding a little more stern.

"Take Cade. Not me," I said quite simply, looking at Kaldur, who seemed to have noticed the burn that was around my throat.

"Tempest, what happened?!" he repeated once again, becoming slightly angry and worried. I only managed a smile before turning to find an exit to the cave. Another pain shot through me, sending me straight to my knees, as Kaldur put his hand on me to make me face him. Shakily, I stood up and stared into Kaldur's eyes, a single tear entering my own.

"Fear is a powerful thing…" was the only thing I said, before turning around again, once again looking for an exit. As I walked off, I saw Artemis come past me the opposite way, a semi-conscious Cade in her grip.

"This little criminal here decided it would be funny to strap a lightning bolt to Tempest's neck and shock her with it. Hey, where was she going?" I heard Artemis's voice from a far distance behind me, but I continued walking. Nothing back there was going to make me change my decision.

Nothing.

~~~.~~~

Eventually reaching what I thought was an exit, I found my path blocked by a levitating Superman. Couldn't people, or aliens, live without floating for a second?

"You do realise that the people here care about you?" he asked, his hands on his sides in a heroic pose. I knew he was right, but I just couldn't face Cade again.

"Yes, I do… But if I was there, I'd only get myself into trouble… Cade needs this more than I do…" I wrapped myself up with my own arms and shivered. It seemed worrying about my own life came second for me.

"Tempest," Superman started, lowering himself to the ground, "you are a brave girl. You've shown us your talents and your determination for things you care about. All you need to do is learn to control your powers. That's what we're here for. If Cade wants it so badly, he'll know not to blame someone else for his misfortune. So, if you really want to be a part of this team, we're all waiting for you. The door's right there, if you choose otherwise." I looked up at Superman, thinking about what he just said and realising just how true it really was. It was easy to tell he knew how I was feeling about it, because a smile appeared on his face.

Turning around, I ran back up to Kaldur and hugged him, thanking him for everything. Then, walking up to M'gann, I hugged her as well.

"We're lucky to have you on the team!... Hello, Megan! I made cookies for this! I'll go and get them!" she squealed excitedly.

"I just hope that they aren't burnt like last time…" Robin muttered, getting a death stare from Wally.

As M'gann flew off to collect her cookies, I wrapped my arms around Robin and Wally, who seemed a little disappointed that I didn't hug them separately. With slow, awkward steps, I made my way over to Conner, contemplating whether I should hug him or not.

"Uh, would you… You know… want a hug?" I asked softly, my eyes darting back and forth between his and the ground in hesitancy. With a slight shrug, I received a hug from Conner, who I had to stand on the tip of my toes to reach properly.

And then finally, it came to Artemis. I just looked at her and smiled, realising that a hug wasn't the best idea, seeing as she still had Cade in her grip.

"Thank you," I said to her, shaking her hand.

"You're welcome," she replied, returning the smile. Soon, M'gann was back, carrying a tray of cookies.

"Who's hungry?"


	5. Chapter 5 - Well, I'm Whelmed

"So… you and Superb-, I mean Conner?" I asked M'gann, repeating what she had asked me, but changing it around a little bit so that it suited her situation.

"Yeah," she giggled, giving me a smile. I was about to say just how cute them together was before I saw the one person I didn't want to see at all. Cade. He couldn't leave me alone after her nearly killed me… three times!

With an eye roll, I just looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," he 'apologised', sounding as insincere as one possibly could. With a kick to the back of the knee, Artemis knocked him to the ground, still with a hold of him so that he couldn't move without her permission.

"If you want any part of this team, you'll have to start acting like it, and being like that isn't a great start," she told Cade, throwing him to the floor. Only a few seconds later, Robin and Kid Flash appeared, eyeing Cade strangely after hearing what he had to say. Aqualad and Superboy came soon after, looking very similar to that of bodyguards.

"I'm whelmed," Robin stated, folding his arms. I couldn't help but laugh at his little comment, and again, I received a smile from him.

"Batman to Aqualad. You are required immediately," I heard Batman's voice through Aqualad's intercom.

"Acknowledged. We shall be there shortly," Aqualad replied, gathering his team and walking out. We had all been in my room, which seemed to happen quite a lot now. I was sitting on my bed, but now that everyone had left, I stretched out and decided to lie on my stomach instead, forgetting that Cade was still on the ground, making his way over to the edge of the bed.

"Tempest… I'm truly sorry… About everything… I know, you didn't mean to make me feel angry. You just wanted to help. And then afterwards…" Cade began apologising. I found myself staring into his eyes, those eyes. They were perfect. Well, perfect for the moment. He had come to the side of the bed, the same side that my head was facing, and began to lift himself up slightly, his knees still on the ground. I watched as he moved closer, a look of frustration on his face. I didn't have any idea what he was doing, but it started becoming clear to me.

"Let me apologise," he whispered right into my ear, sending a shiver through me. His lips drew nearer to mine, but I still didn't catch on. It wasn't until I heard Kid Flash say, "Dude!" from the doorway that I started realising what happened. I looked up at Kaldur, who was just staring at us, no emotion really inhabiting his face, with a confused look. Everyone apart from Kaldur and Conner were staring at us, utterly shocked. What was happening between two supposedly mortal enemies? And then what Cade was trying to do hit me.

With a wail of confusion, I managed to fall off of the bed backwards, landing on my head with a horrible _thwack_. A groan of pain and dizziness escaped me as I attempted to stand up again.

"This is happening too often… What are you trying to tell me?" I asked Cade, mumbling the first bit to myself. Confused, I most certainly was. One minute, he was trying to kill me and the next, he's trying to kiss me! That usually doesn't get too far with a girl.

"Uh… Well…" Cade started. It was too obvious that he hadn't thought everything through, and was struggling to make up any lies.

"The League wanted you two, also," Kaldur explained, motioning to myself and Cade. With a nod, I tried standing up, my hand on my head, but something stopped me. My hand became covered in a strange liquid that made me feel even dizzier than previously, and as soon as I removed it from my forehead, I realised that my head was bleeding. At first, everything seemed fine, but soon, things were going dark and I felt everything I could see being sucked away.

"Do you have any idea how annoying this is?" I joked, falling into Wally's arms and blacking out completely. I had lost count of how many times something bad had happened to me in just over a day.

~~~.~~~

Waking up, the first thing that I saw was Kaldur patting my head with a damp cloth. I had forgotten what happened only a little while before, but as I winced in pain, it all came back to me.

"Are you feeling any better?" asked Kaldur, continuing to pat my head with the cloth. I tried nodding, but my neck and head hurt too much to.

"The Justice League wants to see you. They say that there is a mission, but we will not receive it unless you are present. You are a great asset to our team," he told me, wiping the last of the blood off of my head and placing the cloth down next to me.

"Wow… That's amazing…" I responded, still trying to stand up, but I could feel the cookies coming back up. With a groan, I managed to stand up, using Kaldur as assistance.

"I'm sorry," I apologised to him, feeling like a person who has had a bit too much to drink; dizzy and unable to keep their balance.

"It is alright."

Walking out, I started feeling really bad about everything that had happened to me. I seemed to be one of the only people that had a knack for getting hurt one way or another. The Justice League and the Young Justice team were all waiting on myself and Kaldur, who had stopped helping me to walk and moved next to everyone else.

"Uh, is there any chance that I can, you know, skip this?" I asked M'gann quietly. With a look that said, "Aw, please?" M'gann only slightly got me back to the side that convinced me I wouldn't just be a problem to everyone.

"Tempest, are you alright?" Robin asked me, grabbing my wrist softly and pulling me away from everyone by only a little bit.

"Why don't you just take Cade? At least you know he can control himself. I don't want any of you to be hurt because of stupid, old me," I admitted, feeling a little ashamed that I was constantly thinking badly of myself. Again, Robin continued to pull me away from the crowd, but instead, this time he pulled me around the corner.

"Tempest, really, you have to stop doubting yourself and your self-control! If I was you, I'd be whelmed!" I gave him a strange glance, "…Don't ask. Anyway, what I'm saying is that you need to see yourself in the bigger picture. You have powers. I don't. The team could easily use you more than it could use me, but with both of us, everything is made easier! Do you believe me?" I just stared at him, slightly confused by what he was saying, but a little bit appreciative. When I didn't answer him, I guessed he took it as a sign that I didn't believe him.

"Perhaps, you'll believe in this," he stated, pulling me tight against him and pressing his mouth against mine. It was just like what had happened when I was chained up, except this time, I wasn't being strapped against a bed. I wrapped my own arms around him in embrace, savouring every moment. Three minutes and forty six seconds went by before we finally released each other, not that I was counting or anything, both of our hearts racing.

"I believe you."

~~~.~~~

When we walked back to the rest of the group, no one except for M'gann and Wally noticed that we were missing.

"Now, she's traught, Robin stated happily.

"Where did you go?" Wally asked, arms folded and a slight smirk on his face. Returning the smirk, Robin merely said 'Nowhere' before grinning at me adorably. I returned the smile and melted. Well, that was amazing.

"Well, how did you get her interested in the mission? Before, she looked like she would rather have died than come with us," Wally asked another question, breaking his arms apart and lowering them at a questioning angle. All Robin did was smirk at him, and eventually, Wally and M'gann realised what happened, Wally becoming jealous and scowling at his best friend and M'gann smiling and giggling at me.

"Are you focused?" I heard Batman ask us, his monotonous tone easy to identify.

"Yes, sir!" I answer enthusiastically.

"Calm down. You'll die if you're that excited during the mission," he told me, rather straight-forward. Perhaps I was being a little too enthusiastic. "You are to infiltrate the 'Pattersons' warehouse. Word is that they're supplying dangerous chemicals to an unknown buyer. Your mission is to find out what this chemical is and who wants it."

On the way out, I decided to thank Artemis again for what she had done for me and wanted to apologise for everything I had done wrong.

"Hey, Artemis… I'm sorry for -," I started before being interrupted by her.

"You know what? You shouldn't be sorry. I was being stupid. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I didn't come earlier when you had that whole 'Cade' fiasco," she apologised, smiling at me.

"Why did you come at all? I thought that you wouldn't."

"Yeah… I realised that being angry at you just for being the new skin to the team was pointless and when I heard you in trouble… Well, that's what families are for."

~~~.~~~

"So, uh, how is this going to work? I don't know if there's enough seats in your ship for another two people," Wally stated, staring confusedly at M'gann. I realised afterwards that I was staring at him, admiring him from where I was standing: the amazing colour of his hair, the gorgeous colour of his eyes, his lips, his outfit. Time passed and I realised that Robin was standing next to me, also staring at Kid Flash, but in confusion. One eyebrow was lowered, like he was thinking hard about something. When I noticed Robin next to me, my heart had an attack.

"Oh my God… What are you doing?" I asked, looking between the gorgeous guy that was on my right and the gorgeous guy that was in front of me.

"I'm trying to suss out what you're looking at. I see nothing except for Kid standing there being confused," Robin joked, smirking at me. "I'm concerted."

"You're funny," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him. "Can we just drop the topic?" With a shrug, Robin walked off to join everyone else.

"Wally, don't worry! I can fix my bioship to have two extra chairs!" M'gann called out enthusiastically. Why could she be enthusiastic and not be told they would die?

I watched as Wally made his way next to me, a stupid smirk on his face.

"You can sit next to me," he insisted, moving closer to me, despite his skin almost touching my arm.

"I'll keep that in mind," I replied, boarding the ship. For a few seconds, I saw what I looked like in my outfit on the side of the ship. My once plain, brunette, somewhat wavy hair was now black with red and green tip. The slight curls were now more defined curls, with one piece of my hair on either side of my head being pulled to the back and tied together there. My eye shadow was silver, with black flicks drawn at the edges of my eyes in eyeliner. My lips were bright red and full. Someone had definitely gone through some trouble with all this.

"Whoa…" I commented. I felt the urge to touch my make-up, to see if I was going crazy, but I figured it would smudge if it was real.

"What do you think? I did it myself when you were asleep," M'gann asked, hands behind her back and her eyes wide with hope.

"Wow, M'gann… It's… amazing… I still can't believe it's real," I complimented M'gann's awesome design techniques and continued to poke my face.

"Well, it's time to go. You can admire yourself later."

As I was about to board the bioship, I noticed something really strange. My eyes. The colour seemed to keep changing, like it was having trouble deciding on what it was going to wear.

Even if the mission didn't go to plan, I'd definitely have something to think about.

~~~.~~~

A few minutes later, we arrived at a big, cement building with the word 'Pattersons' written on the front of it. Three guesses where we were.

"Someone could have cleaned up before we got here!" Kid joked in a whisper to me, indicating all the boxes and rubbish that was lying around the front of the building.

"Tempest, Cade. You go around the back. Take these. Tell us if anything happens," Aqualad ordered, throwing a single ear piece to us each. They were our comms.

"But Aqualad! You want Tempest back here alive, don't you? Why don't you have her go with someone else? I'd be more than happy to oblige," Kid Flash offered, flashing me a grin and making me go weak at the knees. Shaking it off, I just stared at him. Fine! He's hot! Just don't go all crazy over him!

That was a promise to myself I wasn't sure if I could keep.

"Hey, what about me, thanks? In need of a super-powered ally?" Robin asked, hoping that he would get his own way.

"Take Artemis! She has the superpower of being annoying! It still counts, right?"

"Oh, shut up! Why don't we just have four people go around the front and four cover the back? There are eight of us," Artemis suggested, motioning to us all, watching as Kid Flash scowled.

"Great plan. Now, who will cover which end?" Kaldur asked. I looked at the boys, hoping that they would answer for me.

And I was right.

"Tempest, Kid, Artemis and I can cover the back and you, Superboy, Miss Martian and Cade can cover the front!" Robin thought, laughing at his intellect. The sky was dark, seeing as it was night, and the building didn't give off much light itself. If anything, it made everything seem even darker than it was.

After an agreement, both groups split up to cover each half of the building. It was an enormous building, large enough to contain what seemed like the entire cave that we lived in.

That some of us lived in.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked Artemis. When we both turned around, we both also saw that Robin and Kid Flash had already run off, like little kids playing a game of Hide-and-Seek.

"Let's just enter the building. We'll see if there are any clues inside," Artemis suggested, opening a window right next to her. I followed her through the window before going my own way. The place was chock-a-block with containers all about the same size. Each one of them read the words 'danger' and 'explosive'.

"Why don't we go and be blown to smithereens?" I joked, patting one of the boxes. Each of them was identical, apart from one that I saw. It had something more written on it, but I ran out of time to read it.

"Tempest, you're in trouble!" Robin warned me through the comm., his voice only slightly worrying. The next thing I knew, Robin and Kid Flash were right behind me.

"Hi, guys. So, what's this trouble I'm in?" I asked, hands on my hips, slightly unimpressed. They had interrupted my reading and had moved in the way of the label, so I definitely wasn't able to read it now. Before either of them could talk, the crate next to them exploded, rendering both of my amazingly hot friends amazingly unconscious.

"Great. Now I'm screwed…" I muttered to myself. The explosion from the crate had caused blackening on the floor, but it took me a little while to realise what had happened to Robin and Kid. Not only were they knocked out, but they also suffered from gashes over their bodies. As uncomfortable as it made me, using the only cloth available seemed to be the only way to go, and the only cloth that was available was the very fabric that I was wearing. I slowly ripped off a one sleeve and wrapped in around Kid Flash's stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. Then, off came the other sleeve, which covered the gash on his leg. Next was Robin, who had a burn on the right of his stomach, a major cut on his arm and another gash on the outside of his thigh. Now, all that was left was the legs of my pants.

"I'm going to be practically naked after this!" I complained to myself, but I never lost sight of what I was doing for. Robin and Kid Flash could not fall in harm's way anymore. I wouldn't let it.

"Robin and Kid Flash down. I repeat, Robin and Kid Flash down," I said through the intercom, kneeling between them.

"Tempest, where are you?" Kaldur's voice responded. That was a difficult question, seeing as I had absolutely no idea where I was or where I was supposed to be!

"Uh… In the building somewhere?"

"I'll be there soon!" Artemis called through the comm. At least I would have help.

When she arrived, the first thing she did was give me a strange look.

"Uh… what happened with your… outfit?" she asked, before realising what happened with Robin and Kid and simply saying, "Ah."

"Artemis, we need you. Now," Kaldur's voice rang out through the intercom once again.

"But I just got here!"

"Now."

In that split second, Artemis had left me alone with two guys that could barely stand up; apparently she didn't realise how self conscious I was already.

Suddenly, a roar broke through the near-silence, along with scared me out of my wits. My heart beat twice as much as usually and I struggled to calm my breathing, but eventually, it all became normal again.

Well, somewhat normal.

What greeted me next was one of the most horrific sites that I had ever seen; it's body was enormous, just smaller than the room that I was contained in. Long, stained tusks grew from the sides of it head, right next to its eyes. Its face was wrinkled and the creature had no nose, just a black space where it should have been. I had definitely seen more attractive folk around town.

"Are you here to try and kill me?" I asked sarcastically. For some strange reason, I didn't feel even slightly fazed by the creature, even though it did look like it could eat me in a single bite.

Without a word, the monster lunged forward, trying to smack me down to the ground with its hand, but just missed me, nearly catching on the boys' legs.

"Oi! Don't you dare touch them!" I shouted, feeling a little over-possessive. Robin and Kid weren't really mine, but I felt like they were, and it felt good.

"Jealous, are we?" the hideous monster teased. It's voice was raspy and dry, as well as completely uncaring.

"I'll handle the wise-cracks around here, mate!" I retorted, racing around the room at high-speed.

Just like Kid Flash.

"How am I doing this?" Being confused wasn't new to me, but now, I was more than confused. I was worried. How was I able to duplicate Kid Flash's power? I had left my own reality when I started thinking about what possible explanations there were, but was brought back to it by a giant hand grabbing a hold of me. It kept squishing me tighter and tighter, stopping me from breathing. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't exactly run my way out, or turn into a bat to escape!

But then another thought crossed my mind. I closed my eyes and felt myself transform from a human being, inside a poisonous frog at the hands of my enemy. More like in the hand of my enemy. I had learned about these specific kinds of frogs and the poison they secrete when feeling threatened, but I couldn't, for the life of me, remember what they were called!

All of a sudden, the giant started to drop me, grabbing a hold of his hand, which looked as though it was burning away – a horrific sight. I had only just managed to jump from its hand and into its mouth, open from the screaming that the monster was doing. The inside of its mouth was even more disgusting than the outside! Its tongue was green and slimy, its teeth sharp and its uvula strangely shaped; it looked like a thermometer at the back of the thing's throat. With a groan of disgust, I managed to secrete the same poisonous toxins that had burnt its hand.

As I was about to escape, the monster shut its jaw, trapping me inside the dark depths of its mouth.

It was horrible.

A screaming sound escaped its throat, which still managed to hurt my ears. My froggy ears, nonetheless.

"Get me out of here!" I shouted, still in frog form, but no one seemed to hear me. I checked the intercom, but realised that, somehow it must have been in the giant's hand when I transformed into a frog. The thought of it all confused me. If I was still in my clothing as a bat, then what made me being a frog any different?

Then _smack_. I felt a shock rush through me as the giant started falling through the air, leaving my stomach behind me. The monster was still screaming, but this time, it didn't sound like it was in pain; it sounded like it was screaming in fear. I knew exactly what was going on. Cade was going on.

"Let me out!" I screamed again, banging on the roof of the thing's mouth. I had no idea what it was, I just knew that I wanted to get out of its mouth as soon as I could! After a few minutes, I realised that the monster was unconscious, so I was forced to find another exit. I just knew that nothing I chose would be fun.

As I sat on the monster's tongue, I thought about different places to escape, and only one sounded not completely horrible: through its nose. With another groan of disgust, I hopped my way over to the monsters throat, watching as the path I left burnt away the flesh of the monster. Still disgusting. Turning into a worm, I made my way through various canals, eventually coming to the large opening that was its nose. Or supposed to be its nose, anyway.

With a final wriggle, I made my way out of the monster, gasping for breaths of air and transforming into my human form. Two coughs in the background caught my attention. I could see Robin and Kid Flash regaining consciousness, but jumping back in shock when they realised they were lying right next to each other.

"Please tell me nothing happened between us!" Kid Flash hoped, looking a little scared at the thought of it, as did Robin. I remained silent, holding onto myself and realising the worst. Sitting on the monster's hand, I looked to my left, the spot where the monster had picked me up and there I saw my ear piece. And to make matters even better, there was what was left of my clothes lying next to it. I realised it then - I wasn't wearing anything!

An awkward 'Eep' escaping from my lungs, I hid behind the giant's hand, hoping that Kid Flash and Robin wouldn't realise where I was.

"Do you remember what happened?" Kid asked, looking down at himself and noticing the wounds that plagued his body. Robin followed suit, examining the material that bandage up his cuts and gashes.

"I have no idea. But I'm pretty sure this is Tempest's… What was she doing?" At that point, I saw them both see the monster and jump back in fright.

"You see that too, don't you? I'm not crazy?" Kid asked, moving closer to the monster. As quietly as I could, I managed to sneak my way around to the hand of the monster to retrieve my clothes. I didn't exactly want to greet the guys in my birthday suit. It was difficult trying to pull on the outfit, seeing as I could hardly tell which was the top and which were the bottoms. Tugging my boots on, I placed the comm. into my ear and greeted the guys. Now I was somewhat presentable.

"Wow. What happened to you?" Kid asked, examining my outfit.

"You two did. Now, we need to round up the others and leave," I instructed, tapping my ear piece. "Aqualad, do you copy? We need to leave now. We've witnessed a single explosion already. I'm worried the entire place will blow at any moment."

In agreement, Aqualad told me that we would all gather at the same place we arrived and M'gann would have the bioship ready.

"Alright, we need to leave. Now," I ordered, jumping up to the window in which Artemis and I entered.

"Cool, souvenir!" Kid shouted from behind me, picking up a tooth of the giant that had obviously been knocked out.

"Come on! We need to go, now! Where's Artemis?"

"Artemis is already at the ship. We need to leave," Robin told me, limping past me while I was sitting on the window, waiting for Kid, who had already made his way outside.

"Well, are you coming?" he asked me, smirking. I felt like I had forgotten something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Kid and Robin were both in pain, limping and groaning on the way up. At least they didn't get stuck in something's mouth! I jumped out of the window, only a second before the major explosion occurred, blowing myself, Robin and Kid Flash a few metres away from where we already stood. I had to help them up, seeing as they could barely stand for themselves.

Deciding to be helpful, I came up behind the two guys and put my arms around them, trying to hold them up. Seeing as they both had major wounds on their stomachs, I was forced to put my hand on their chests, giving me an excuse to do a mental happy dance.

"Thank you," they both said simultaneously. I could only smile in reply, but as we kept walking, I felt Kid Flash's hand intertwine with my own. My face was going red and a smile would not hide from it. Not long after, Robin did the same thing, not realising what Kid had already done. By now, I looked like being sunburned made someone pale! Eventually, we arrived back at the bioship, and I had to release my grip on the boys. Aqualad and Superboy gave me an interesting look, but as soon as they saw the troublesome twosome, they started to realise what had happened.

"I realised you encounters some… complications," Aqualad stated, looking to the burning building. With only a nod, I began to board the ship. I always found myself becoming more confused than the other person when I was explaining something, so I decided perhaps it wasn't such a fantastic idea to elaborate on the previous situation.

~~~.~~~

When we eventually arrived back at the headquarters, the Batman, Superman and Red Tornado were awaiting us.

"How did the mission go?" Superman asked, looking at Kaldur.

"I apologise, we did not discover the content that was hidden," Kaldur started, before Kid Flash interrupted.

"But we did find a monster's tooth! No idea what the thing was though…" he held up the tooth that he had brought back as a souvenir in triumph. That's when it hit me. What I had seen. The word I had read.

"Droughtstorm…" I whispered to no one in particular. Everyone seemed to notice, but only Superman and Conner actually heard me properly.

"Droughtstorm? Do you really think they…" Superman started asking the two other men by his side. They all started walking off, but Batman came back, telling us that our mission was complete and that we didn't have any more missions for the moment. I was excited.

"What is Droughtstorm?" I heard Kaldur ask. For some reason, the name sounded familiar but I couldn't put my finger on what I knew it from.

"I don't know… And there's nothing about it on here," Robin stated, looking at the holographic screen that appeared about his glove.

"I guess we'll just have to use our spare time in other ways," Wally said, smiling at me. I didn't know whether to feel appreciative or a little worried. As I took a few steps toward him, I put my arm around Wally's stomach, facing the opposite way to him and whispering in his ear as inconspicuously as I could.

"Are you feeling any better?" I asked, rubbing my hand over his stomach.

"Much. And thanks," he replied, flashing me a grin. I watched as he unraveled the cloth that bandaged him to find nothing underneath. What had happened? When I wrapped it up, it was bleeding like a fountain, and now, nothing at all! Even the skin was completely healed!

Staring at his stomach, I felt a little awkward, but I really wanted to find out what had happened to his wounds.

"Don't worry, we'll find out eventually," he told me, seeming like he read my mind.

"Hey, let's go to the beach!" M'gann suggested, beaming at Conner. An excuse to see the guys shirtless? I'd definitely be taking up that offer.

Right before we all split up to get our things for the beach, I passed Cade and shot him a dirty look.

"If you want to kill me, you need to try harder next time."


	6. Chapter 6 - You're Such A Beach

When everyone reassembled back at the headquarters so we could leave, we all felt so excited. Going to the beach was never my favourite thing, for some reason I remembered that, but now that I was with Robin and Wally, I didn't feel nearly as resistant to the thought of going.

"Are you excited?" M'gann asked me, levitating next to me. I blinked repeatedly until it hurt my eyes, trying to get used to the sight of it.

"Uh… Kind of. I've never really been fond of the beach, plus I have nothing to wear and my other outfit it torn to shreds… I feel so badly about that, I swear…" I responded, nervously playing with my fingers.

"Well, I'm sure you'll want to impress the guys, so we'll find you something!" M'gann said a little too loudly and a little too enthusiastically. All of the boys that were standing near us looked over and started smirking. I swear, I could have made Mars look blue!

As we walked back to my room, M'gann opened a drawer that I didn't even realise was there and pulled out a bikini and boardie shorts. It was still black, silver, green and red, with a 'T' on it. The top half was mainly back, with silver outlining the edge, just like the shirt, except there were no sleeves. The bottom half of the bikini was also black with a silver outline, but it had a 'T' on the side in red and green. The boardies were basically the same. I was starting to get the feeling that there was someone who only wanted me wearing one thing in particular.

"I'll let you get changed. Come out when you're done!" M'gann said to me happily, floating out of the room. Soon enough, I was starting to get used to it. Only starting, though.

Again, I found myself throwing off what was left of my outfit and pulling on another. Bikini's always made me feel so self-conscious and all I could think of was if Robin and Wally liked my outfit.

"I'm back!" I shouted, laughing at how stupid I felt. M'gann smiled at me and I saw Conner looking at her and smiling himself. They were adorable, but it didn't seem like anybody knew, so I just left it that way. I knew that he was already taken, but I couldn't help but take notice of how hot he was without his shirt. M'gann had done well.

"So, shall we?" Wally asked, standing next to me, shirtless, a towel over his neck and sunscreen across his nose. I found it difficult not to stare; this was a definition of sexy! Then I heard Robin clear his throat from the other side of me, so I turned to see what he was talking about and again, my eyes could not control themselves. This was the alternative definition of sexy!

"She's whelmed," Robin joked, winking at me. I shook away the thoughts in my head and continued walking up the ramp that led outside. It was still slightly dark, but the sky was getting lighter, meaning that we could still see where we were going and what we were doing.

Soon after, we arrived at the beach. I had laid down my towel so that I could lie on it. Swimming at a beach had never really done anything for me, so I just watched everyone else splash around in the waves. Apparently, Cade had the same idea as me, pulling out his towel and placing it on the sand underneath him.

"Temp, come on, you have to come for a swim!" Robin insisted, but I refused. There was no way that I was going to go swimming. It was against my nature to go swimming at beaches. I saw Robin, Artemis, Wally and M'gann all whispering to each other, and then bringing Kaldur and Conner into their conversation, but I just ignored it and continued to try and get what I could of a tan. I heard a few of them walk over, to me, but I refused to open my eyes to see who it was.

"I told you, I'm not going for a swim," I exclaimed, covering my eyes. I was in trouble now. I felt four sets of hands on me, each grabbing one limb. Now, I was forced to open my eyes. Wally and Robin had a hold of my arms and M'gann and Artemis had my legs.

"Put me down! I swear, put me down!" No matter how much I tried, they would not listen to me. I looked over to my left to see the same thing happening to Cade by Conner and Kaldur. As my group continued walking, I could feel the ocean water touching my back.

"Guys, let me go!" Not the best choice of words. With two swings, I found myself being flung into the water. Not particularly impressed. After spitting out a mouthful of water, I thanked them sarcastically, starting to walk back to my towel.

"But you just got in. You have to stay for a little while," Wally insisted, grabbing my hand and pulling my drenched self up close to his own. I felt my heart skip a beat as I looked into his eyes. I had to push away, but as soon as my hands touched his chest, I felt my knees go weak and found myself falling back into the water, embarrassed as hell.

"The Wall-Man charm. Gets them every time," he announced triumphantly.

"Oh, shut up, you," I told him jokingly, grabbing his hand to help me stand up again. I was still feeling weak, but a little better now. "What now?"

"Just have fun!" M'gann exclaimed, bouncing through the waves while Artemis tried splashing her. Soon, M'gann was right next to Conner and smiling at him while Cade gave Kaldur a 'Why did you do that?' look.

"How am I supposed to do that in water?" I asked, looking up at the moon. Suddenly, I felt myself being pulled into Wally's embrace again, but this time, I was drawn closer to his face. I couldn't stand properly, but now, I was sure it wasn't just because I was blushing. Our faces only about two centimeters apart, I felt myself lose most control of my legs. It was a sickening feeling, one that made me feel disgusting right to my gut. I flung my arms around the back of Wally's neck, to his surprise, but pulled my chin onto his shoulder to support me.

"Are you alright?" he whispered into my ear, trying to hold me up. I couldn't speak; it felt as though I would lose my dinner if I did. My eyes started tearing up and my tears dripped down his collarbone. "You're not alright, are you?"

I shook my head and held my stomach. As I started to walk out of the water, Wally picked me up and gently put me onto my towel. I started to apologise, but he told me to stop talking because it would only make it worse.

"Maybe that's why she doesn't like the beach," Robin stated, thinking. Wally sat on one of the fold-out chairs we had brought right next to me, making sure that I was okay. My heart was aflutter with happiness; I still couldn't believe the kindness of the team.

~~~.~~~

After a little while of lying down, I started to feel a little bit better, and some of the others were starting to cook the sausages and pour drinks. I sat up and smiled at Wally, who returned the smile and stood up. I managed to bring myself over to everyone else, before sitting down in front of Wally.

"Hey, you okay now?" Artemis asked me, biting down on a sausage, as was everyone.

"Yeah, I think so… I have no idea what happened though…" I replied, giving Wally an evil look as he smirked at me. M'gann handed me a sausage and a drink, which I thanked her for, but when I noticed that Cade was sitting by himself near the cave, I stood up and brought the food to him.

"Please, don't bite my head off…" I pleaded, handing him everything. Without a word, Cade took them off of me and started eating. At least he wasn't screaming at me to leave him alone.

"Well, enjoy…" I mumbled as I walked back to the group.

Everyone looked at me and M'gann asked if I wanted one. I nodded and sat down between Robin and Wally again.

~~~.~~~

When we had all finished eating, we just sat around talking for a little bit, waiting to dry off. We each had our own little conversations; Kaldur, Conner and M'gann were all talking, Artemis, Robin and Wally were all conversing and wanting me to join the discussion, but I wanted to make sure that Cade was alright. I felt like one of the only ones that really cared about him, despite his attempts of killing me and all that jazz.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked, sitting next to him, although a relatively fair distance away. Still, no words were spoken by him, but I decided to talk to him anyway.

"You know you can join us? And I'm sorry about what happened during the mission. I realise you were only trying to help… Plus, it wouldn't have helped with me turning into a frog and a worm. You wouldn't have known…" I tried apologising, but Cade continued to say nothing. I looked at him for a second, him staring at the ground. But then, when he brought his eyes to me, I could see specks of light in them. That's when I was utterly surprised.

Cade was crying.

I stared at him sadly, trying to make him smile, but nothing worked. And then, I became shocked even more as Cade did the unthinkable – he hugged me. I could feel his tears run down my back as I stroked his back in an attempt to cheer him up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry…" he apologised between gobs of sobs, clinging on tighter to me. I looked over at the rest of the group, but no one seemed to notice.

"Cade, why are you sorry?"

"I… Everything! Everything that I've done to you! I didn't mean to do it! I didn't… I didn't know… I love you, Shanelle… You've meant everything to me…"

Shanelle? What was he talking about?

"Uh, Cade, are you feeling alright? I'm Tempest. Maybe go inside for a little bit. You seem a bit confused," I insisted, rubbing his shoulder. It was at that moment that Cade snapped back to himself, the Cade I knew and didn't love at all. He just started giving me an evil look to remove my hand before standing up and heading off. It seemed like in that split second, he changed completely.

I started walking back to everyone, confused about what had just happened. Did I just imagine that? Was Cade seriously just crying and did he call me 'Shanelle'? I decided it was another thought that was just messing with my brain, so I shook it away and kept walking.

"She's back," Conner stated absently-mindedly as he saw me returning.

"What took you so long? We're about to leave," Robin asked, standing up and gathering his stuff.

"Uh… I'm not sure…" I responded. Maybe I wasn't imagining things?

"You ready to leave?" Wally asked me, throwing his towel over his shoulder. I nodded and linked arms with him as we started to head back. Seeing as we were the last two, I stopped Wally and pulled him back.

"What are you-?"

"I'm sorry. I wanted to make it up to you," I told him, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the water.

"Tempest, don't worry about it! You don't have to-," Again, I had found myself interrupting Wally's sentences.

"Wally, I want to. Besides, 'Wall-Man', I did take away valuable time for you at the beach, did I not?" By now, I had led him straight into the water, the moon just above us. The weak tide covered a quarter of my stomach, while it covered just less on Wally, seeing as he was slightly taller than me. As a joke, I pushed him straight into the water, but it slightly backfired when he pulled me in too, causing me to land on top of him. I immediately knew to move since we were both completely underwater, but when we surfaced, I found myself smiling like an idiot and giggling like a little girl. I was completely soaked, once again, but this time, I didn't care.

"Now this is why I knew I shouldn't have argued with you," Wally stated, smiling at me. We both stood up, absolutely drenched now, so I just rested my head on his chest, able to hear his heartbeat and Wally bringing his arms around to my back. I brought my own hands around his back as well and pulled him closer to me. Removing my head from his chest, I gazed into his eyes and brought my arms up to the back of his neck.

"So, do you have any idea what I'm thinking?" I asked, running one hand along the back of his hair.

"You want to tell me?" I merely smirked at him and brought my face closer. And with a whisper, only one more thing was spoken.

"I'll show you." With that, I brought myself to the tips of my toes and placed my lips against him, closing my eyes to enjoy the moment. For the first time, it seemed like something really sparked. Both our lips moving simultaneously, I felt something strange. Something amazing. Something that made me feel too great for words.

Could it be?

A long time passed before the both of us decided that stopping would probably be the best idea.

"You're forgiven," Wally joked. We decided to stay out a little bit longer, both of us lying on one towel: his. I was on Wally's right with my head on his arm and my hand on his stomach. I could feel his lips touch my forehead and immediately fell asleep. I could now die a positively happy girl.

~~~.~~~

Waking up, I found myself in my bedroom, wearing a massive T-shirt that was like a nightgown for me. It was dark and came just onto my thighs, so it was a little bit short. To my right was Wally, asleep but waking up because I must have woken him, unfortunately. I had my head on his chest, on hand under his back and the other on his thigh.

"Hey, beautiful, how did you sleep?" he asked sleepily, his arm around me. He started shaking it like he had lost feeling in it, so I sat up and stared at him.

"Uh, fine. I guess. What am I wearing, exactly?" I responded, looking down at the shirt.

"Oh, that? That's Batman's. I figured he didn't need it," Wally told me coolly. Really? Was I really wearing Batman's shirt? And could I express just how awkward that made me feel?! "Don't worry, I'm kidding. It's mine. I didn't want you to get sick or anything."

Hearing that, I leant over and pressed my lips against his in thanks.

"You'd better come up with another joke, because the dinosaurs will roam the Earth again before that's funny," I teased, before realising the scientific point of it and shooting him a 'Don't even say it' look. I felt myself being pulled back into his embrace as his lips once again found their way onto my own. My hands roamed his sides and back for a little while before I was forced to pull away.

"Where's Robin?" I asked confusedly. Wally seemed even more confused and a little scared.

"Uh, I'm… not sure. Why exactly do you want to know where he is…" Wally replied with another question, studying our current 'situation', "…now?"

"Well, whenever anything like this happens, it seems that someone interrupts it, and so far, no one. I thought Robin would have been here by now…"

"Tempest, you're just paranoid…" Wally reassured me, bringing me in for nothing more than a tight hug.

"I guess…" I pulled away and gave Wally the best puppy-dog eyes that I could, "but can you just humour me? This once?"

With a sigh, and myself jumping quietly in excitement, Wally agreed, grabbing my hand and helping me off of the bed.

"Kid Flash to Robin. I repeat, Kid Flash to Robin." No answer. Even I tried, but nothing worked. Even the idea of running around like a retarded monkey to embarrass the victim didn't seem to hold much value.

"Where do you suggest we look first?" he asked. I hadn't even thought about that, but the main headquarters seemed a pretty obvious place to look.

"Knowing my luck, he probably is hiding somewhere around here. I just don't know where…" I whispered to myself, going through each room but coming up short. Eventually, Wally and I met again at where we had left each other.

"Did you find him?" I asked, walking up to Wally. I just hoped that Robin was around somewhere.

"No. You?" I shook my head and started pacing. "Well, we saw him last at the beach with everyone else. Maybe he's still there?" It was worth a shot. I didn't want Robin to be stuck outside all night with crazy psychopaths!

At least it wouldn't be all night.

Wally and I eventually arrived at the beach, combing the sand for any clues. The sound of Wally's voice after minutes of silence startled me. Walking over to him, I noticed that Wally was holding up an ear piece. Robin's comm..

"We're on the right track…" Wally stated. I felt the need for sarcasm, but decided it wasn't the best time to use it and that decision hurt. We continued along in silence, making our way onto the grass.

"Oh my God… Please tell me that's not… Are they his boardies?!" I basically squealed. As much as I wanted to find Robin, I'd rather have found him wearing something than being completely naked*!

"Right, well I've had enough action for one day. Can we just call it a day?" Wally asked, starting to turn away. Grabbing his ear, I pulled him on. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Okay, I take it as a no."

"Let's just find him and then we can go, okay?" With a nod, Wally continued to walk with my, intertwining his hands in my own. And very shortly, we found his glasses and towel outside of a small apartment.

"Well, the guy seems to have his priorities right. When we relax, call on the chicks," Wally joked, pushing open the door. Oddly enough, it was open. "Well, that certainly helps."

We slowly made out way up the stairs, the occasional breeze making me self-conscious because it kept blowing the bottom of the shirt up. Wally would just smirk at me and I would punch him lightly in the arm. Eventually, we came to the door at the very top of the apartment – the only door in the shabby, old apartment. It looked like it could give a haunted house a run for its money. The door was old and wooden, with small areas being chipped on it.

Again, Wally nudged open the door, this time quite slowly, and the site that I saw chilled me right down to the bone.

Robin was tied up with only boxers and his mask on, an intriguing metal holding him down to a dark chair that I had never seen before. A girl was circling him, caressing him as she moved. If it wasn't for the fact she had one of my best friends tied to a chair with just his underwear on, I would've let them be.

"Hey, we could do-," Wally started. Frankly it was something that I didn't want to hear, so I gave him an evil look. "Never mind…"

"We have to figure out how to save him… He's got no belt!" I stated, trying to think. Suddenly, I felt myself being pushed forward by something, but nothing was there.

"Guys!" Robin cried, realising we were there.

"Oh, look, we have company," the girl said, standing at the back of the nearly naked Robin, her hands on his shoulders.

"Dude, I'd rather rescue you when you're wearing clothes!" Wally shouted, a little disturbed that his best friend was wearing nothing but his boxers.

"So, Robin, hey? Why did you choose Robin? Why didn't you take 'Mr Amazing' over here? He could use an attitude adjustment," I started talking, hoping that the girl wouldn't notice Wally trying to free Robin and looking hurt at my comment.

"Just ignore me. I'm distracting her," I somehow said to Wally telepathically, who once again, seemed extremely confused.

"Dick is amazing. The best you'll ever see. And I am the only one who seems to see him that way," the girl spoke poetically, standing right in front of me. I was a little shocked at what she said, but after a little while I started realising it. Dick Grayson was Robin!

"And you are?"

"Hina, and if you don't mind, I'd rather not have your boyfriend taking away my man." It was obvious that she had noticed Wally, so I told him to come back over to me.

"Well, 'Hina', I'm sorry, but we need him, so we're going to have to take him," I told her sternly, walking over to Robin to continue untying him. Strangely, I had a feeling when she was behind me and my immediate instinct was to change…

Into Robin.

Because of my transformation, the perpetrator calling herself Hina ended up falling onto Wally, giving me just enough time to finish untying Robin and swap spots with him so Hina would be none the wiser. Before I tied myself up completely, I shouted at her, saying that Wally was mine and she could have Robin; the two actual boys seemed even more confused than they had been previously. Tying myself up loosely, I motioned for Wally and Robin to leave, who did reluctantly. It was obvious they didn't want to leave 'Robin' again, but they weren't able to help.

"I have you all to myself," Hina threatened, before narrowing her eyes at me, sensing something was wrong, "but you're not yourself, are you?"

"Of course I am!" I defended, trying to change my voice to as similar as Robin as possible.

"Well, answer my question then. How was 'Superboy' created?" Her smile was as evil as she was being at that moment, pulling a knife from the belt that she was wearing and pointing it at me.

"Uh… Superman got Lois pregnant?" I asked, knowing immediately how stupid I truly was.

"I thought so." With a swing, Mara ended up slashing through the ropes, her knife burrowing deep into my thigh. The pain was severe but my will to get out of the situation overtook it. I was able to free myself from the ropes, the wound in my thigh so painful, it seemed like all hell had come loose. Changing back to my original self, the girl seemed even more determined to make sure I wouldn't come between her and Dick again.

I backed up, my back pressed against a wall. Luckily for me, Robin's utility belt was an arm's reach away, but unluckily, Hina's knife connected with my arm first. Thrusting forward to pick up the belt, I immediately threw a shuriken at the crazy girl, knocking her out temporarily. I was definitely aching now, but better me than someone I cared about. I continued out the door, greeted by the boys.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked, grabbing onto his belt. I nodded and leaned against the door behind me.

"Just… sign a shuriken… Now…" I ordered him, struggling to catch my breath.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!" I was starting to get really irritated; I had just risked my life for a friend, I didn't exactly want to be bombarded by questions. Without another word, Robin pulled out a pen and signed a shuriken. Checking it, I read, "Hope you had fun – Robin".

"Hope you had fun?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to him. Because 'hope you had fun' is something everyone says to someone who could have killed them!

"Yeah, I hope she had fun, because I am not doing that again! I'm definitely not traught. Wait, why did you want me to do that, anyway?"

"I know how it feels to want someone without them feeling the same way…To want to do anything for them, but they don't even give you a sideways glance… To fall in love with someone who you can never have…" I whispered, throwing the shuriken back to an unconscious Eli and lowering my head, tears filling my eyes and spilling down my face.

Dick and Wally both exchanged confused looks. I didn't know why, but I knew I had been through that same situation. That same feeling.

I knew exactly how she felt.


	7. Chapter 7 - Roo-eow, I'm a Sausage

"So, uh, how did you notice I was missing?" Robin asked as we all made our way back to headquarters. I looked over at Wally, to see him with a mischievous grin on his face. There was no way he would tell Robin what happened, only just tease him.

"Tempest, did Red tell you where you'll be enrolling?" Wally asked, trying not to run ahead. I nodded.

"Yeah, uh… Keystone High School or something. I'm not sure," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. Wally's face just lit up.

"Great! You'll be going to my school!" Robin seemed slightly unimpressed, but just continued walking, speaking after a little while.

"You know, Gotham Academy is much better. It's where I go," he stated with a triumphant smile.

"So what makes it better, then?" Wally teased. We all just walked the rest of the way in silence, myself giggling at the boys' childishness.

"We're here," I announced, stopping at the cave.

Upon entering, we noticed that everyone was gathered around in the main headquarters.

"So, what's happening?" Wally asked as he entered the room. He seemed awfully happy about something. I could feel some eyes looking at me strangely as I walked in, my legs barely covered by what I was wearing.

"Hey, Tempest, what happened to the scars and bruises that Cade gave you?" Robin asked, looking me up and down. I wasn't sure. I had completely forgotten about them, actually. They seemed to go away, so I didn't worry about it. With a shrug, I simply smiled. Why dwell on it, right?

For a few seconds, I could feel myself getting dizzy and light-headed. Artemis asked if I was fine, so I just tried nodding and staying as happy as I could. I didn't want them to start thinking I was a drama queen… Even if I was.

"I'm going to get some fresh air, okay? I'll be back in a sec," I told Wally, touching his shoulder and walking out. I heard him say an innocent, "What?" as I left. It was easy to tell that they were giving him the kind of look that said, "We know something's going on, so spill."

Walking out into the moonlight, everything was beautiful. The sky was a silky navy blue, the moon like a giant gem decorating it. The stars were like small jewels used to help bedazzle the night. With each step, the cool breeze pressed against my skin and I found myself smiling in the darkness. I took a deep breath in before I eventually reached the edge of a cliff. It was unknown to me where I was exactly or why I walked to a cliff, but it just seemed natural.

Like an instinct.

I walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat down, dangling my feet over it. The water underneath was beautiful and clear, the moon reflecting off of it. So wrapped up in my own thoughts, I didn't even notice Cade come over and sit next to me. There were words that I wanted to tell him so badly, but I had no idea what those words really were and my voice decided that silence was the best remedy for the situation.

Cade and I sat there quietly for a countless amount of time, simply staring at the ocean and admiring its beauty. I was the one to speak first, but not to Cade.

"Well, this is whelming," I joked, sensing a thirteen and fifteen year old presence.

"Really? Are you serious?" Wally asked, sitting down next to me. I could tell he wasn't completely impressed with my catching on to catchphrases. Laughter escaped me as I leant back and looked up at the sky.

"It's amazing…" I said, just under my breath. I could hear Robin whisper something, but I didn't hear what it was, only Wally following it with, "Dude!"

As I sat back up, I realised that Cade was starting to leave.

"Wait…" I spoke softly, gently grabbing onto Cade's hand and pulling him back. With a bit of hesitation, Cade finally obliged, so I grinned at him in thanks. "Where are you going to school?"

"Keystone," Cade replied immediately, not sounding too enthusiastic.

"Great, I'll have a psychopath at my school…" I heard Wally say quietly, so I shot him an evil look.

"That's great! Maybe we can all stick around together?" I suggested. Cade just raised an eyebrow to me, looking a little unimpressed. Perhaps that was a no.

"Sure, I'll bring my lightning-proof suit," Wally joked, receiving another evil look from me.

"'Wall-Man'? Please… Shut up." Robin was too busy laughing at Wally's embarrassment to really join the conversation. "We should go. It's getting late and I'm tired."

Everyone agreed and we ventured off, heading back to the HQ. Robin and Cade walked off in their own direction, while Wally escorted me to my room.

"Good night, beautiful," he said as he wrapped his arms around me. I followed suit and hugged him back.

Hopefully school the next day wouldn't be too bad.

~~~.~~~

When I woke up, I could feel the school day kick in hard. I didn't want to get out of bed and I definitely didn't want to go to school!

"Good morning, sleepy-head!" M'gann greeted her, floating around the kitchen. Did she have to so earlier in the morning?

"What's the time?" I asked, sounding really tired and uninterested.

"It's about half-past seven! You'll have to start getting ready if you don't want to be late for your first day of school!" I groaned and returned to my room, spreading myself across the bed. Whoever invented the concept of 'school' was definitely someone who didn't like sleep. I saw Cade pass my door, looking as dead as I felt.

"Tempest, you have to get up!" M'gann called again. I had fallen asleep and when I checked, it was now quarter past eight. It took a little while to get there and school started at nine!

"Yes, Mum!" I responded sarcastically, my head buried into my pillow. I rolled off of the bed and landed on the floor, not bothering to even try standing up. "Ah, the pain... the agony!" Wiggling my way over to the drawers, I heard a voice that I hadn't heard too often coming from the doorway.

"Uh, what are you doing?" he asked, standing there. I attempted to turn around completely, but it didn't work, so I just rolled onto my back like a sausage and looked at Conner. He had a somewhat confused look on his face, before he shook his head, amused and walked off. That was over, but my struggled to reach my clothes continued.

"Will she reach it in time, or will she fall short?" I became a commentator of my actions, continuing to squirm over to the metallic dresser. Lifting my hand up, I pulled back the drawer, not taking into consideration the distance between myself and the drawer, feeling it hit me in the head. With a low groan, I managed to pick myself up, as much as I didn't want to. It was like I was being tortured! I could barely even see what I picked out to wear; I just threw it on... Until I realised both my top and bottoms were on backwards.

"This is going well..." After correcting my outfit, I ran outside and slid into the bench. Talk about pain – and it was the edge as well!

"Tempest, are you alright?" M'gann asked, racing over to help me out. I groaned and looked at her with my eyes partly open, still tired as could be. My voice was low and rough,

"Mum, can I skip school today?"

~~~.~~~

After a little while of time spent on the bus, I arrived at Keystone High School, feeling really nervous. I didn't know what it would be like, or what to expect, so I just walked around, absent-mindedly, trying to find Wally or Cade. There were eight periods throughout the day, but I hardly paid attention to any. The only reason that I was going to school was so that I had something to do during my time and could get away with being 'normal'.

Eventually, lunch came around and I found myself sitting alone at the cafeteria, my elbow on the table and my head resting in my hand, while my other hand was tapping its fingers along the top of the table.

"Guess who?" a voice said from behind me, covering my eyes. Wally!

"Um, someone who decided that blinding me would be a brilliant way to get my attention?" I joked, pulling him down next to me and wiggling my butt over a little so he had room. "How was class?"

"Uh, boring. I have a paper due tomorrow. Where have you been? You were supposed to be in my classes," Wally replied, a little confused.

"Really? Oh, I have no idea where I was. I just walked into a random classroom and sat down. The teachers didn't seem to mind..." Wally just looked at me strangely again, before shrugging it off and continuing to talk.

"So, what should we do this afternoon?" he asked, raising his eyebrow at me repeatedly, trying to be sexy. If anything, it looked quite funny. As hard as it was, I managed to refrain from laughing, but I still didn't know what he meant.

"What do you mean? Like, like... a date or something?" I noticed that he had pulled out a banana and was eating it profusely as I talked. He merely nodded before swallowing his food and elaborating.

"I guess. I just mean go somewhere. Anywhere. It doesn't bother me," he responded, shrugging and raising the corner of his mouth slightly so I knew he was thinking about it. I looked at the sandwich that he had now pulled out and was shoving into his mouth, so I decided perhaps food was a logical decision.

"Why don't we get ice cream?" I asked, watching as he piled the food into his mouth and nodded happily. If only I could do that and not get fat...

~~~.~~~

I spent the rest of the day with Wally, still paying absolutely no attention to where I was going. Where was I going, anyway? During the middle of a class, I found myself, partially coming back to reality, so I tapped Wally's shoulder and asked what class we were in.

"Biology. Aren't you paying attention?" he replied, with a slight laugh after he spoke.

"Is something wrong, Mr West?" the teacher asked, turning around to face myself and Wally.

"Sorry..." I said to Wally telepathically, giving him the biggest puppy-dog eyes I could.

"No, sir..."

~~~.~~~

When we walked out of biology, I couldn't help but get overexcited about the fact school was almost finished!

"Hey, I'll be right back," Wally told me, entering the bathroom as we passed it. I was left alone, getting a few different looks as I leaned against the wall behind me; some were confused, some were flirty and some people actually stopped to talk to me. But as I stood there, I swear I saw Cade pass me. And what's more, he smiled at me. I thought it was probably my imagination, but the sight was still a nice one to see.

One guy whose name I didn't even bother asking for had stopped next to me and put his arm around me. I just looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he complimented my outfit. Without any idea what I was wearing, or if I was even wearing anything at all, I looked down to see what I was garbed in. I had on a denim skirt and a black singlet with a yellow 'Batman' symbol on it. My cheeks became red as I realised I would have to go back to HQ wearing a shirt which had Robin's mentors symbol on it.

Delightful.

"So, do you look hot in everything you wear, or is it just because you're wearing Batman?" the guy tried flirting with me, but it wasn't working. I just stared down at my shirt, embarrassed that I was wearing the singlet that I was wearing.

"Everything she wears. Now you can leave," Wally said, walking back over to me and putting his arm around my back so I could get away from the creep. I was still staring at my shirt, my cheeks red. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah... Have I been wearing this all day?" I asked Wally, still staring down at my shirt.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh my God, you're kidding, right? I haven't been wearing this all day, right? People around here may be fine wearing their favourite superheroes symbols, but I'm not quite that confident, seeing as I'll have to see him this afternoon!"

"Why don't you turn your shirt inside out then?" It was a feasible thought, but I decided I would leave it until the last period before I even reconsidered it.

~~~.~~~

It took a while, but eventually, the final bell rang and I was walking outside with Wally, admiring the scenery. The grass was definitely greener here, compared to the cave.

"It feels so weird to be here..." I muttered to Wally, who just nodded absent-mindedly.

"Hey, were we still getting ice cream?" he asked, walking speedily toward the closest ice cream vendor, seeing as he couldn't use his super-speed. Figures.

I tried following behind, but he was too quick for me. By the time I had reached him, Wally had already bought his ice cream – a scoop of everything.

"Where do you want to go now?" he asked, eating his ice cream while I waited for mine.

"Uh, we can go to the beach?" It was the only place that I thought of and frankly, the only place that really made me feel good.

"But I thought that the sand there got in your hair." I could tell that he was attempting a joke, but it didn't work very well. With a sarcastic laugh, I pushed him softly.

"I don't know. I just like it there." I had looked away to see the ocean view, and when I looked back, Wally was giving me a 'You don't say' kind of look. Again, I found myself pushing him because of his childishness.

"I'm going to lose my ice cream soon!"

"Well, I think you've already lost your mind." I winked at him and finished eating at the same time as him. He just gave me a teasing smile and nudged me back. We had arrived at the beach and were walking on the sand, hand in hand. The sunset was already occurring, thanks to the amount of time it took me to figure out where Wally had gone when he bought the ice cream.

"This is romantic..." I stated under my breath. I could see Wally smirking a little bit, but soon stopped when we both saw Cade glaring at us. Awkward could not be used to properly explain the situation; it was an understatement. I felt my stomach tie itself in knots repeatedly as I released Wally's hand, feeling somewhat terrible. I still hadn't forgotten what he had said to me. "I love you, Shanelle... You've meant everything to me." The words still rang through my head like the sounding of a pistol, and I knew that wouldn't end anytime soon.

"This sounds like a regular question, but are you alright?" Wally asked again, nudging me with his elbow. I just stared at Cade for a while, processing what he had said to me.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," I finally responded after a while of blanking out of reality.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. Everything's fine." Everything's wrong. Nothing's fine.

We continued walking and Cade passed by me, stopping for a split second before continuing. In that short amount of time, I felt a strange piercing sensation in my arm, but decided to just ignore it. I must have been going crazy and perhaps it was just from me leaning on it all day.

"How can you eat like that? I have to watch every little thing I eat, but you devour anything!" I commented, patting his stomach.

"I have a serious metabolism."

"I wish I was like you and able to eat practically anything."

"Hey, I don't care if you're fat or what, you're still amazing." Ah. He was dead now.

"Excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips and walked up close to him, being as confronting as I could.

"Not saying t-that you are fat, just if you were, I... wouldn't care..." I smiled at him for a second before shooting him an evil eye. At that point, I started feeling really dizzy and weird.

"Is it me or is everything spinning?" I slurred, blinking repeatedly, trying to get my balance back.

"Uh, it's you. What was in that ice cream you had?" Suddenly, I found myself singing to a song I didn't know and dancing like a person who was absolutely smashed, thanks to a night of drinking.

"Tempest, are you okay?" Wally asked, trying to grab a hold of me as I spun around.

"I'm fine! Never been better! Actually, I guess I've been better! We've all been better at some point, haven't we? Like that time I owned a pet unicorn and called it 'Paul' and then we found out it was a girl. Those times were fun!" I rambled, watching as Wally's expression became really confused. I found myself babbling on about things I didn't know anything about.

"We'd better get you back..." Wally mumbled, dragging me by the hand like I was a little child. I had no idea what had happened, I just hoped it would stop soon.

~~~.~~~

We arrived back at the HQ, Batman standing there, emotionless, as he saw me enter with my Batman singlet. I was still on a strange high, so I completely forgot. By now, the babbling had stopped, but I started rolling around on the floor and barking like a dog, then mewing like a cat. All that time, I knew exactly what was happening. I just wasn't able to control my actions or words.

"Rooo-ew," it was a mix between a cat and a dog and frankly, I didn't want to know where I got the idea from.

"What happened?" I heard Batman's monotonous voice ask Wally as he followed me into the headquarters.

"I'm not sure. One minute we're... Never mind. Then she starts acting like this!" Wally answered. I could see normally, feel normally, and think normally. I just couldn't control myself at all!

"Please, help me..." I said to Wally and Batman telepathically, as the physical me flopped around on the ground, mumbling something about being a sausage.

"Uh, Wally, what is she doing?" I heard M'gann's voice come into the room as she tried not to laugh. It felt as though I was a completely sane person stuck in the body of a mental patient. I saw him cast her a glance and immediately noticed that she had stopped laughing. Soon, Conner entered the room and just stared, unsure what to make of the situation.

"I haven't seen these kind of ailments before. Has she had any exposure to drugs of any kind?" Batman asked, studying my behaviour. I wished it would stop, but no. My body had other plans. My body stood up and started jumping around the ground of four that were watching me curiously, trying to figure out what was happening. Then suddenly, I felt myself walking over to Conner and kiss him right in front of M'gann. I tried hard to regain my self-control, but nothing worked. I was just scared that I would do something completely fruity!

I tried apologising telepathically as soon as I saw the looks on their faces; Wally was a little distraught, M'gann a little upset and Conner annoyed. I knew they had to take into consideration that I couldn't control any part of me but my mind, but I could still understand how they would have felt. That's when I started getting really worried. As soon as I saw them, I ran into the kitchen and picked up a knife, both of my hands gripping onto it, which made the hand that was on the blade bleed.

No, please no.

"What is she doing?" M'gann asked, watching, slightly terrified, as I brought the knife closer to my own stomach, a big smile painted on my face but a breaking heart in my chest. If there was one thing I didn't want to do, it was die! And thanks to whatever had happened to me, it was merely seconds away.

The group rushed over to me and tried convincing me to put the knife down, but I ended up threatening them, despite the fact it wasn't really me doing any threatening.

"One step closer and I'll do it! I swear! It'll be just like cutting a cake; I'll be the cake and I'll cut up the cake!" I exclaimed with an innocent laugh. I didn't want to be the cake! I wanted to be in control of myself and making sure that everyone else had one less thing to worry about.

"Ah, gosh, now this is annoying! I mean really! Why can't this ever happen to one of you? Perhaps I'm just unlucky!" I found myself commenting excitedly again, but this time, it was kind of true. In a second, I dropped the knives on the bench that was next to me and wormed my way to my bedroom, making 'blub' noises.

What was going on with me?

When I arrived at my bedroom, the first thing I did was jump on my bed. I had the strange urge for it, but it didn't seem nearly as exciting as it did when it passed through my body's mind. As much as I didn't want to, 'I' really did want to, so I found myself jumping up, higher and higher. Then _bang._ I landed next to my bed in a heap on the floor.

At least I'd be able to sleep tonight.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Blood and the Bold

When I woke up, I realised that I didn't have school because it seemed that I had completely slept through the day and it was now toward sunset once again. It was a very exciting thought. The main reason was that, as the saying goes, after the high comes the low and I was on an extreme low after my little episode the night before. I woke up with a pain in my neck from landing on it awkwardly, but it apart from that, everything seemed fine... Apart from my mental health.

I didn't realise that whatever drug had been injected into me was seeping into my brain. Rather than just letting me see all the problems that I had experienced from my high, I was now forced to feel and act out the major lows that I was going through as well. My bed was the only thing that comforted me as terrible thoughts ran through my head, bringing tears to my eyes. The thought that I would never be good enough for anyone on the team, the thought that it would be better if I stopped trying to be in the team altogether.

The thought that things would be better if I was gone.

I looked in my clothing drawer and pulled out everything, throwing it all onto the bed, tears falling freely now. As much as I didn't want to leave everyone, I had a feeling that it would be for the better. And in a way, I suppose it was.

Everything was left behind that day. Everything except for the close on my back and the shirt that Wally had loaned me that I hadn't yet returned. I felt like an idiot, but I also felt the need to do it. I felt that I had to leave.

Everyone was gathered around in the lounge room by the TV, just talking. The only people who were missing seemed to be Cade, Conner and myself. I had one last look at the gang before I headed out, my only change of clothing in my hand. Suddenly, a firm hand stopped me.

"Tempest, right? Everyone wants you," Conner told me, trying to smile. Sensing his attempt of kindness and seeing it as fake, even though the true me knew he was only trying to help, I barged past him, my tears making a path behind me. I tried wiping my eyes, but it made matters worse.

"Tempest, why are you crying?" Did he really expect me to tell him?

"Nothing, okay?! Nothing is fine! So you won't to have to worry about it after this! You'll have each other, just like you already did! I won't be here to bother you, alright?!" By now, tear tears and redness in my face was obvious, but I didn't care about that. I had just screamed at Superboy. I could be dead in a matter of seconds! Bringing my hands up to cover my mouth, in shock of what I had just said, I saw Conner's face go slightly confused. That was all. "I'm sorry, Conner..." And with that, I left.

I didn't want to leave! It was the last thing I would have done if I had the choice, but some idiot with a syringe decided that it would be better for me if I couldn't handle myself! And now, I couldn't return even if I wanted to. I had gone of my nut at Conner, a guy who I didn't have much to do with - I didn't want to see how I would go with the ones who had found their places in my heart.

Walking to nowhere in particular, just making my way around the place, I spawned little rose buds, red and full of life, which soon died, becoming wilted and black. It was a bit like my life. Everything seems to go right and suddenly, things start taking a turn for the worst.

"Well, this is you, Shanelle..." I mumbled to myself. Shanelle. Why was I calling myself Shanelle and why did it come so naturally to me? The edge of the cliff appeared in front of me. The same cliff that I had shared precious moments with Cade at.

Cade...Why did I care about him? He tried to kill me a number of times! Despite the thoughts that came flooding back, I found myself sitting on the edge of the cliff again, reminiscing about the past and thinking on the future, the future that could have happened. The water below me now looked how I felt: slow and without any thoughts of doing something extraordinary. The tide was dark and the moon continued to reflect off of it, but now, it was only a small part of the moon.

I knew the group didn't need me. They had already coped so well without me, and even if I wanted to stay, they still had Cade. They wouldn't need an extra hanging around, getting in the way of everything and messing up. That's all I was – a girl they turned to when they needed something messed up.

Soon, other thoughts, some similar, some quite different, passed through my mind without warning, but one struck a curious nerve and I found myself dwelling on it for a while. Droughtstorm. The name sounded familiar but I couldn't tell why. Perhaps it had something to do with me? I continued thinking about it and it hit me. He was a baddie! I had heard about him before, though took no real notice. Occasionally, I would ask about him, and people would tell me that he was able to control weather. Any kind of weather. But it couldn't possibly have had anything to do with...

"So, I see you've left the group." I couldn't put my finger on who the owner of the voice was, but they sounded familiar. Turning around, Cade greeted me, smiling casually, as if nothing had happened between us. I merely nodded. Why did he have any interest in what I did? "Right... Why?"

"Why does it matter? I'm gone. You have them to yourself. It's a win..." I sighed, looking back up to the moon. "...win."

"How is it a win if you're not happy?"

I really wasn't interested in telling him about my personal opinions and all, but he made me feel like he was the only person who would actually care about it.

The only person.

"You know what? I don't even know why I'm telling you this... I don't know why you care, either," I spat, turning so that I was facing even more away from him. I felt his grip fall only my shoulder, turning me back around to face him, despite my attempts otherwise.

"Because we are the same. Something's happened and we both need to find out what it is. I want to learn more about you so that we can work together, not apart like we have been all this time," his answer was clear as he inched forward. I furrowed my brows at him and leaned away. I felt like everyone was managing to take advantage of me one way or another, and with the guys, they only seemed to want one thing.

"No. I know what you're like. As soon as I think I've seen your sensitive side, you go and stab me in the back, or in my case, strap me to the wall with a lightning bolt!" I retorted, starting to pick up the shirt that Wally had lent me.

"No, Tempest, I swear. That wasn't me. I am the same person that you met the first day we were here. I tried helping you out, but somehow, I was changed... I don't know how, but it happened. You have to trust me now." Even though I was still hesitant, I decided to give it a go. Seeing as I had left everyone behind, I needed someone there with me, even if his care was only a lie.

Wiping away beads of nervous sweat from my forehead, I stared at him, hoping that he would start a conversation, but he was quiet. It looked like if we wanted any talking to be done, it would be started by me.

"So, why haven't you actually talked to me before now? I only really see you when I'm alone." Cade started looking away in thought, but then turned to me relatively quickly.

"I've had nothing to talk to you about. Well, nothing I can say to you when you're with company," he replied a little bit too quickly, which made me feel a bit confronted.

"Oh. Right, then... Have you ever really thought about what happened in our lives before we got here? Every now and again, things pop up in my mind, but I can never piece it together..." I asked Cade, staring at the sky and thinking about those little things. When I looked at him, he seemed a little distraught and unresponsive.

"Cade, you alright?" As soon as he heard his name, he replied.

"Yes. All the time. I remembered the Justice League and Young Justice, but I'm not sure how... And Droughtstorm... The name seems -"

"Familiar, yes I know. I feel it too." I continued staring at the sky, my legs moving on their own account over the edge of the cliff.

"Hey, Tempest?" Cade started, moving closer to me like a person with a secret. With a nod, he continued. "Are we ever going to find out who we actually are? Who we were?"

"I don't know... But I'm just trying to worry about who I am right now, until I can remember more..."

"What about Wally? And Dick? Do they help you remember?" A lot of what Cade had said made me feel uncomfortable talking with him about it, but it also made me think. I did remember little things when I was with them, like who Red Arrow was.

"Uh... Yeah, I guess..."

"And when you and Wally kiss... Does it bring back any memories?" I looked up into Cade's eyes and visions flashed across my eyes. It was me holding hands with someone. Someone who wasn't Wally. If anything, they looked like...

Cade.

I moaned and leaned forward, lowering my head so that I was looking at the ground.

"It hurts too much to think about it," I groaned, still staring down at the ground. Cade's fingers touched the skin just under my chin, raising my face to him.

"Maybe this'll help jog your memory..." he whispered, slowly bringing his face close to mine. Unlike the other times with Dick and Wally, I didn't feel a spark or anything. It was just like high-fiving a stranger. Suddenly, more visions ran around in my mind. This time, it was easier to tell.

Cade and I were walking around in a park, holding each other's hand and whispering to one another. We eventually sat down and I sat on his lap, burying my head into the crook of his neck while he stroked my shoulder. It was the sure sign of a couple that were in love. But I couldn't have been... Not with Cade...

A tear found its way down my face and into the palm of Cade's hand.

"Save it. It could be our key to release..." And with that, Cade was gone. I didn't know what had happened, or if any of it was even real. But I knew I had definitely seen what I had seen. Cade and I were in love. I couldn't tell if that was in the future, in the past or supposedly approximately in the present.

I only saw what I saw...

After Cade had left, another bout of depression hit me, striking me harder this time. I stared at the edge of the cliff and the rocks far below, and even contemplated something I wouldn't have even thought about in my entire life. I managed enough strength to stop the thoughts passing through my head, but I stayed thinking other thoughts instead.

Was I cheating on Wally with Cade? Was I cheating on Cade with Wally? Was I even cheating to begin with? I knew I had to make a decision, but it tore my heart apart as I thought more and more about Cade. Was I really falling for him? Had I already fallen for him? He had tried to kill me on numerous occasions... But he said it wasn't him. And I knew how that felt.

"Tempest, can you hear me? It is Aqualad. If you can, please return to the headquarters. You need help – help that we can provide." It took me a little while to realise that my ear piece was still in. I didn't bother replying; I didn't want to go back and I knew I couldn't. Not after what I had already said and done. I stood and picked up Wally's shirt, holding it close to me as I listened to everyone's pleas for me to return.

I started walking toward anywhere else that I could find, just to get away from the HQ, and my plan worked a little too well. After about five minutes, I had already lost all sense of direction, with no idea whatsoever of where the hell I was. Buildings stood all around me, the streets bustling with people; it was a pretty scary sight.

"Tempest, please! Come back to the headquarters!" More pleas were able to be heard through the ear piece, but I decided that I didn't need them anymore. I pulled out the piece and threw it into a little pond on my right, walking past without a second thought.

They wouldn't be bothering me anymore, or so I thought.

I continued my way around the city, eventually coming to a familiar place. Keystone High School. As much as I didn't want to see Wally again, I didn't want to have no place to stay either, so I started walking toward the building, before being mobbed by a group of random strangers.

"Well, pretty lady, what are you doing around here by yourself at such a late hour?" a man who was much taller than myself asked, gaining ground on me. I didn't speak to them, but my intention to settle things by not starting them only seemed to tick of the group.

"I asked you a question." His voice was forceful now as he moved closer to me, evil in his eyes. Still, I remained silent, not to his liking.

"You ungrateful, little bitch!" I felt a sharp pain across my face, followed by the feint trickling of blood, but I ignore it. Whatever they did to me tonight, I wouldn't care. I was already depressed enough, why would a little blood bother me anymore?

"Did you hear me?!" By now, the man's face was red as a hot chilli pepper in anger, but still, I didn't care. "Louis, Greg, grab a hold of her, now."

With pleasure, I dropped Wally's shirt and held out my arms for the men to grab a hold of, happy to oblige with the leader's instructions. Continuous blows pounded my stomach as I felt myself coughing up blood, my abdomen aching as much as it could. I wasn't sure that he had broken anything, but if he hadn't he was sure close to it.

"You going to answer me now?" Still, I was resistant, so the man ordered 'Louis and Greg' to drop me to the ground. "You're gonna be sorry you got on the wrong side of us!" Lying on the ground without a care at all, I felt feet kicking into my stomach and my own legs, on connecting with my neck and knocking the wind out of my throat. And finally, with a last blow to the head, they left, leaving me only semi-conscious. I knew no one would be there to help me, but I didn't care. The only thought that really haunted me was that I wouldn't die there that night.

~~~.~~~

I woke up in the bushes that morning, seeing people walking into the school. I was battered, beaten and bruises and to top things off, someone had once again changed my outfit into Wally's shirt, which was now covered in blood. Standing up, I heard a few people laughing at me, a few people gasping at me and a few people cat call to me sarcastically. I ignored them all and just pulled myself into the school. More eyes greeted me evilly and meanly as I continued walking, trying to find a classroom, in which I could just crash. Eventually, I came to a room that was about to a homeroom classroom.

"Wow, I love your outfit!" a girl said sarcastically, walking past and pinching the sleeve of my shirt and then releasing it, showing just how disgusting it was. I decided to let my hair out completely, which had been tied up partly, so no one could see my face.

Especially not Cade or Wally.

"Oh. My. God. This school really does have some freaks here, doesn't it?" another girl pointed out. I looked up and saw a very pretty girl standing in front of me, her hands on her hips. Her blonde hair covered part of her forehead and her tight shirt and short skirt seemed like a major sight for the lads.

I refrained from talking, seeing as I had nothing to say to her.

"See? She's too much of a freak to even say anything!" Usually, it would have gotten to me, but now, I was just focusing on hiding from Cade and Wally. "Don't worry. We'll meet again... Bitch." My blood started to boil as she leant in closer and whispered those words to me. She didn't even know me! But still, I knew I couldn't care. It didn't matter. I was just focusing on my hiding technique.

~~~.~~~

Time went by very slowly; every time I saw a red-headed guy wearing a similar outfit to Wally, I would freak out and hide behind whatever was closest, but so far, none of them were actually him. Cade had passed me a number of times, not realising who I was, which I guessed was a good thing. Either that, or he didn't care. Again, another good thing... Sort of.

Seeing how lunch was immediately after fourth period, when the fourth period bell rang, I remained hidden in a classroom. I didn't know what classroom or what it was being used for; I just hid.

"Hey, guys, look! It's that freak from this morning!" I didn't know the guy, but apparently he knew me. He was big and buff and seemed to be a relatively popular guy. Since I was crouching behind a desk, he definitely seemed a lot bigger and buffer than he was. I could feel myself being picked up and pinned against the wall, unsure of what was happening. Then, it shined on my face.

A blade. A freshly sharpened blade was being held right in front of my face in the hopes of scaring me. It actually did the opposite; I was a little glad they brought the knife. Maybe it could have ended suffering early? I didn't mean the physical suffering, I meant the mental. The suffering I had forced upon myself the day that the drugs forced me to leave.

"You scared, little girl?" I merely smiled at the crook, hoping he would get it over and done with. His face twisted with confused as he held it against the crook of my arm and sliced down. The pain shot through me like hell, but I couldn't show them. I couldn't prove that I was in pain. I just couldn't do it.

This continued for several minutes before another face entered the room. A familiar face.

Crap.

"Wall, over here! Here's that crazy chick we've been telling you about!" they shouted to the new face. I was dead.

I saw him stumbled backwards when he realised who I was, trying to release me from his 'friends' grip.

As I fell to the ground, the main guy with the knife cast another swing, slicing my cheek, which burnt so very badly.

"Tempest, I..." Wally started, picking me up and leading me outside and around to the back of the school.

I raised my head to him, feeling blood from my cheek tumbling onto my lips. Our faces were mere millimetres apart when it hit me again like a tonne of bricks. The visions. Again, it was Cade and me, still sitting at the same park that we were in in the first vision. Except now, our lips were intertwined and I could see a smile tugging on the edges of Cade's mouth. It couldn't be...

"Tempest-," Wally restarted, reaching the back of the school. I rolled out of his arms in a flash and stared at him. I was not going to let him lecture me about leaving the team. It wasn't even my own choice!

"I'm sorry..." was all I could manage before I walked away, feeling as useless as I was. My head lowered, I climbed back into an empty classroom and stayed there for the night, starving, aching and slowly bleeding to death.

Life seemed wonderful.

~~~.~~~

Days passed and I continued hiding from Cade and Wally, spending most of my time in the bathroom. Every time I saw my reflection, I couldn't believe it was me. At first, I didn't believe it was me. Cuts and bruises plagued my face, while streaks of blood raced down to my chin. My hair had gone to a dark red colour, which worried me a little. Wasn't it supposed to be mainly black?

After about a week of barely eating anything, I ran into Wally. Great.

Immediately, he noticed me, though it wasn't hard, seeing as I was the only one there who looked like the living dead.

"Tempest, we need to talk," he told me, pulling me along to his next class. Well, that would be a great place to talk – in a place all teachers tell you to shut up in!

"Why are we going to your classroom then?" I was utterly confused.

"We'll wait until everyone's in class and then get you cleaned up. We need to talk." His face was stern, a side of him I hadn't seen, and it worried me. A lot.

"...You already said that..."

~~~.~~~

As I entered the room, with Wally, the teacher just looked me up and down before returning to write on the board. I was instructed to stay where I was for a little bit as Wally walked up to the teacher and started asking him about something. Eyes burned through me as I stood in the doorway, a semi-dead girl awaiting her knight in shining... casual wear.

"We're good to go," he whispered in my ear, speedily pulling me along and pushing me into the boys' toilets.

"Well, this is... conventional," I told him with the slightest laugh. I was starting to feel myself again a little bit, and the pain that I had ignored for so long was catching up with me, also. I doubled over and found myself coughing up more blood. It definitely wasn't fun.

"Great. You can still talk!" Wally's attempt at a joke was starting to get on my nerves, seeing as I didn't exactly want to be conversing with him in the boys' toilets.

"Shut up and get on with it." I washed the metallic-tasting blood out of my mouth and listened to what he had to say.

"Ooh, snappy..." he started, before I stared at him, shaking my head slowly so he knew not to mess around, "okay, okay! I wanted to know why you left us."

"Really? What do you want me to say? 'I wanted some time alone, so I decided that being beaten up would be the best option?'?!" I found myself being exactly what he said I was: snappy. "Look, I don't know what happened. One minute, I'm rolling around on the floor, pretending to be a sausage, and the next, my clothes are stolen from me and all I'm left in is this..." I looked down and sighed.

"Just for the record, you can keep it," Wally joked, looking it up and down. I gave him a friendly push and then sighed again.

"I don't know what came over me... I wanted to tell you, I wanted to go back... But then... with Conner... I couldn't after that. And then Cade came along... I knew if I was with you, you would get hurt... I couldn't let that... Not to you..." I barely even strung my words together before Wally embraced me in an attempt to cheer me up.

I found myself crying, once again, and it burned into my cuts.

"Wally West... I love you."


	9. Chapter 9 - Love, The Limpest Lie of All

I felt myself being pulled closer to him, his cheek rubbing against my own and sending an awkward shiver through me. Slowly, I felt my originality coming back to me, so I decided to go with it.

"Heh, now I sound like something from one of those bloody sappy TV shows!" I stated, pulling away and rolling my eyes.

"That means I get to be your hot co-actor?" Wally winked at me at released me completely. At least the tension between us had eased up a little. "So... what did you mean by, uh... what you said before?"

I was definitely starting to feel back to normal again, apart from the pain that still came with the cuts and wounds, but now, I barely noticed it.

"This." I brought my face closer to him, so that our foreheads and noses were touching, but just wiggled my nose against his before pulling back.

"Dude, you had me going and everything!" he complained, folding his arms jokingly. I merely shrugged and turned away, walking to the wall. Before I reached it, I felt Wally grab my arm, pull me toward him and kiss me. Damn it!

"...Yep, I'm good." I chuckled before walking off again. A groan escaped my lips, causing me to double over in pain. "Hey, T, you alright?"

"Y-yeah... I'm fine," I responded, clinging onto my stomach. "There's something I need to tell you." Wally looked intrigued at my response and stood in front of me, hands on his waist. There was just something about that pose that made me feel like melting. Perhaps it was that he wasn't talking.

"Droughtstorm... I know what it is... What he is... I've met him before, I just don't remember when... He's able to control the weather... And I'm sure he seeks myself and Cade, though I don't know why."

A loud crash behind me made me jump out of my skin.

"Mother of the sheep!" I screeched, unsure of what I was saying or what it was supposed to mean.

"What is that?!" Wally's voice was a little rattled, but he reclaimed his focus as he found my falling into his arms... Once again.

"This is happening too often..." A massive hole in the wall of the boys' toilets appeared and I found myself and Wally confronted by an enormous ship, coloured in blue waves and yellow sand.

Droughtstorm.

"That is Droughtstorm! I'm sure! But... I think it's his ship... I must go..." Something came over me. A very strange feeling. I could barely see anything other than the ship ahead of me.

"Tempest, you can't go! You could die!"

"Wally, do not attempt to save her." The sound of that voice brought me out of my trance, but not for long. I was in touch with reality just long enough to see Cade walking into the bathroom, his eyes glowing blue.

"But she could be killed! I-."

"I apologise, but you must not attempt to save her. She must go with our master." I found myself brought back into the trance, losing all feeling over my body. The strange sensation trickled through me as my feet brought myself to the edge of the floor, where the blasted area of the wall stood.

I knew that Wally was about to say something, but I didn't hear anything.

"Shanelle. Leonne. You have been found. Come with your master and no harm shall befall your friends," a metallic voice in the sky announced. I was still hearing the name Shanelle, but I had absolutely no idea what it had to do with anything – I was Tempest! With the trance still in control of my body, I found myself being picked up and placed into the ship with no say in the matter.

"Tempest!" Wally called, using his super-speed to try and catch me before I was gone forever, but he was too late. I was already inside the ship.

"Oh... my head..." I could still hear Cade and Wally's voices, despite myself being inside the aircraft. What was going on?

"Tempest is gone! What did you do?!" Wally screeched. I heard footsteps, followed by the sound of Cade stuttering. As much as I wanted to do something, I wasn't able to. I could just listen and hope for the best.

Suddenly, a loud _bang _shook the ship, and I just managed to see a worried-looking Wally crawling along the roof, attempting to access the inside. No words passed my lips; the only part of me capable of working was my vision, not my thoughts.

"Tempest, you have to snap out of it! You have to think for yourself! Don't let him control you!" Wally screamed from outside of the ship, but I remained staring at him, uninterested by anything he said. I was with my master, and I would be safe.

I would be safe.

I continued watching Wally as he made his way about the top of the ship, trying to gain access to me, but just failing.

Time passed and soon, I felt the ship starting to fly off, Wally still clinging on. I didn't know what to do or say, so I continued staring. Eventually, with much difficulty, he managed to enter the ship without Droughtstorm noticing, or so it seemed.

"Tempest, stop doing this. You need to be yourself again. You need to understand just how much this team needs you. How much I need you! Please! Please..." His voice connected with my ears, but yet, held no meaning to me whatsoever. That's when I felt it. His hands on mine. He held them, intertwined. A spark ran through me, again knocking me out of my trance. At first, I was a little fuzzy, unsure of what happened, but as soon as I started realising what was going on, I knew that both Wally and I were in trouble.

"You need to leave. Now." I tried pushing him toward where he came in, but Wally was just determined as I was.

"No. I'm not leaving without you. We need you, Tempest. I need you!" I felt his hands grab onto my wrist, refusing to let go.

"Don't be stupid! You have to leave before you don't have that choice!"

Tempest! I'm not leaving without you!" his voice was slightly angry and full of determination – it made me blush a little and feel a bit worried at the same time.

"Fine... We'll go together..." I tried jumping with him, but something held me back. Something sharp and metallic. Turning around, metal claws were all over me, grabbing onto whatever they could to hold me back. Well, this would not end well.

"Tempest!" I heard Wally call, also being held down by the claws, only they were holding him against the edge of the ship on the inside.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" I lied, feeling something prick into my back. "Uh, Wally, what's on me?" I could see slight fear in Wally's eyes as he looked at what was behind me.

"I... I don't know what that is! It's some kind of robot thing!" I wasn't able to turn around; the claws made sure of that. The unidentifiable thing continued to prick into my back, causing the very slight pain to soon become more severe along my spine. I tried as hard as I could not to scream, but it was too difficult and found myself sweating and panting like a lady in labour.

"Tempest, it'll be okay. Don't think about it..." As noble as Wally's intentions were, it didn't help that I was in absolute agony and already trying not to think about it.

"What else am I suppose to think about?! Bloody unicorns and dragons?!" I found myself spitting out, a little regretful of what I had just said. But what else was I expected to say?

"Sorry, I was just trying to help out!"

"Well, please just shut up!" The pin that was putting me into agonising pain continued moving about my back, being joined by two other pins, which sped up the process, but hurt a hell of a lot more.

"Tempest, look at me!" As much as I wanted to look down at the ground and die, I knew that I had to listen to Wally, so I looked up, the pain obvious by my expression. "Tempest... I love you!"

My world froze as I heard those words. They circled my head and for a few seconds, I completely forgot what was happening, until I was released, feeling completely numb and barely able to move. Wally was staring down the way he entered the ship, smiling at the distance between him and any kind of ground.

"There's a rooftop right near us. We can escape that way!" he stated, trying to grab onto my hand. I couldn't feel anything or do anything, everything was completely dead. I watched as my limp body was dragged along the metal ground, unable to do anything but stare. Wally had crouched near a small hole in the side of the ship, about to jump down, still holding onto my hand.

"Can you move?" I wanted to shake my head, but damn it, I couldn't even blink properly at him! "I take that as a no..." He continued to climb out of the airship, his hand still gripping onto mine.

"Alright... I have to jump. You'll come down with me, but we'll both be safe, okay?" Even though his words seemed reassuring, I wasn't completely sure that it would all end well, and after it happened, I was positive it wouldn't.

We both fell from the aircraft, Wally's expression a little scared as mine remained completely dead. I saw as Wally landed on the rooftop, but I hadn't – I was a little off and continued falling, Wally trying to catch me but being too late. With a gruesome thud, I found myself sprawled over the ground, no pain in me whatsoever.

That was what worried me.

Even though I couldn't feel anything, I soon saw everything fade right in front of me and woke up in a brand new place with walls made of rock and more modern flooring. Hold on, this wasn't a new place... This was the headquarters!

"Is she going to be alright, Bats?" I knew that voice: Robin! I was still unable to move any other part of me other than my eyes, so I tried as hard as I could to get a good look at what was happening around me, to no avail.

"She seems to be in shock, with no control of any of her body. Everything, including her ability to speak is disabled," Batman started explaining before rolling me onto my back and making my face squish against the surface I was lying on. "I noticed this symbol on her back. It's related to the villain that we've only seen on rare occasions called Droughtstorm. He is able to control the weather and bend it to his will. It seems that Tempest was unluckily picked as a recruit, but somehow, she managed to escape and partially break the bond."

"Bond? What bond?" M'gann asked. I couldn't see her, but I knew she was worried... And standing on my left.

"The bond between Droughtstorm and his victims. He uses highly-intelligent robots to connect him with the victim mentally. Apparently, Tempest was strong enough break the bond when the initialisation process started. I'm just unsure why..." I was rolled back onto my back, looking like a limp bag of beans being pushed around. Looking up as much as I could, I saw Batman looking slightly at Wally, who seemed a little nervous.

"Why are you looking at me?" his voice cracked a little as he tried moving closer to my side.

"Why wouldn't we be looking at you?" Robin asked, laughing, "You're always the one that it ends up being whenever something strange happens."

"Dude!" If I could have laughed, I would have, but seeing as I was incapable of it, I didn't.

"Come on, let's take her to the kitchen. She needs some food in her." I was unsure of who was talking, but saw myself being lifted up and dragged to the kitchen. Because having one of your friends drag you along the ground to the kitchen was definitely a very sexy sight.

~~~.~~~

Arriving in the kitchen, I saw Conner picking me up by my waist and propping me up on the bench next to the sink. My entire body started falling backwards as soon as he let go and I almost fell off of the bench completely.

"I gotcha!" Wally called. I didn't know what had happened, but I sensed that he had caught me as I was falling backwards and held onto me while putting me back on the bench.

"See? This is why we look at you," Robin stated to Wally.

"Are you feeling better?" Artemis asked, looking a little worried. Again, I found myself unable to answer her. The only thought running through my mind? DAMN YOU, DROUGHTSTORM!

"I take that as a, 'She still can't talk and that's the only reason she won't answer you'," Wally interjected, laughing at his own little joke.

"At least I didn't drive her from the team and force her to wear a stupid t-shirt!" Artemis retorted, folding her arms. Wally was behind me, trying to hold me up, so I couldn't see his expression.

"Excuse me, but I did-!"

"See, he admitted it!"

"I DID NOT DRIVE HER FROM THE TEAM! She left on her own... account..." My eyes roamed my head, trying to see Wally, but it didn't work. I knew he was feeling a little depressed at what he had just said, but I was sure that he would be over it in a few seconds.

"Um, guys, Batman wants you. He told me to look after Tempest," I heard Cade's voice float through the air. Great, another thing I could only hear. Perhaps they were all turning into ghosts?

"You guys can go, but I want to stay here, make sure that Tempest is alright."

"Wally, you need to go." For some reason, Cade sounded very demanding, before clearing his throat. "Batman wants to talk to you."

As reluctant as he was, Wally finally agreed, handing me over to Cade, who nearly missed me for a second. I wasn't sure; I couldn't FEEL anything.

Watching everyone leave, I felt a little nervous. I was in the arms of a person who had tried killing me a multitude of times prior, completely alone with him, just us in the room. I knew that he had lied about Batman wanting to talk to them. If he did, he would just call them via the intercom. So what did he really want with me?

I was still unable to feel, but it seemed like my heart missed a beat as I watched him release me, my body slowly sliding down to the ground. Before I had completely touched the ground, my arm still connected to the top of the bench, I found myself remaining still, as though something had stopped me from sliding off of the bench. With no idea what it was, all I could do was let my eyes roam around the room, not knowing what to look at. And then I saw it.

Cade was holding a knife in his hand, pointing it at me before thrusting it into my back. My head dropped, I saw the blood making its way to the ground, from my back and down my arm from my hand. The sight was nauseating, but I managed to refrain from being sick... Or doing anything for that matter.

Looking ahead, my body still lifeless, I saw Cade collapsed in front of me, on his knees and tears in his eyes.

"I never wanted to do that... But it's the only way..." his words pierced through my heart, like the knives that pierced my flesh and muscle. At the time, I thought that he just hated me as much as a person could hate another, but only time would allow me to see that...

He saved my life.


	10. Chapter 10 - Such a Horrible Para-Sight

I awoke sometime later, now able to control my body. It seemed like everyone from my team and the Justice League were gathered around me, staring at my previously uncontrolled body.

"She's awake!" someone screamed enthusiastically, hurting my ears.

"M'gann, calm down!" another person insisted.

"Hey, how do you feel?" I looked up and saw Wally attempting a smile at me, but it was obvious he felt guilty about something.

"Erh... I've been better..." Quite honestly, I felt like absolute crap, but I didn't want the team to be worrying more than they already were.

"Kind of figured. You were stabbed twice. You could have bled to death!" Dick's voice was as casual as it could have been, but I could still hear an essence of worry hidden among his words.

Sitting up more, I looked at Conner and sighed. Why did I say all those things to him? I was being an idiot and had no idea what I was doing.

"Look, Conner, I-," I started, hoping he would accept my apology.

"Tempest, it's alright. Wally explained it to me. I forgive you," Conner said, placing his hand comfortingly on mine. I smiled at him and lowered my head, thinking about everything that had happened.

~~~.~~~

It felt like days had passed before I was released from hospital, but it was only a few hours. I guess the sunshine had an attraction to me, as I did to it.

"It's great to see you're okay," I heard Cade say from behind me, spinning me around and lowering me quickly so that I was on one leg, being supported by his Cade on the small of my back.

"Wow... Oh, yeah. It's great," I replied, laughing nervously, unsure of what had just happened. I closed my eyes and felt Cade lower himself to me, his lips pressing against mine. Immediately, I felt a spark between us, but I knew everything was wrong. I knew that I was with Wally... Well, it seemed like I was. I already had Robin and Wally; I didn't need Cade to go and confuse things even more! Pushing away, I looked into Cade's eyes, then away.

"What's wrong?"

I looked at the ground for a few seconds before answering. "Everything." Feeling not only awkward but humiliated and angry as hell, I did not want to be anywhere near Cade – who knew what he'd do to me next?

The sight to my right was a slightly amusing and distressing one: Wally and Dick were staring at us, mouths wide open. I had the urge to make a joke, but decided better of the situation.

Walking over to the boys, the continued to stand there, looking shocked out of their wits.

"You and Cade? What just happened?!" Wally asked, really confused. He definitely wasn't the only one!

"Don't. Mention. It." I walked off with Wally and Dick on either side of me. Cade was rushing behind me, trying to get my attention, but I still didn't want to talk to him. As long as I could be dead, I didn't want him there in the slightest.

"Tempest... Tempest!" Cade was calling me from a few metres behind me, trying to catch his breath as he ran. Really? Couldn't he tell that if I wasn't such a nice person, I would have done everything he did to me back to him?

"Tempest, I really need to talk to you!" That did catch my attention, but not for Cade's luck.

"Really? Why? So you can cut out my tongue as well? Or so you can fill my mind with my worst nightmares, driving me to insanity? No, you don't need to talk to me, so I suggest you leave, or my lovely little plants here will be onto you. They've been _dying_ to have a word with you!" I exclaimed sarcastically, sounding as evil as I could. With a thought, I have vines waving around near me, threatening Cade, who seemed slightly afraid. Good.

"Tempest, please..." he pleaded as he tried pulling me away. After a few steps, I pulled my hands out of his and shot him a dirty look.

"Don't EVER do that again," I hissed, the vines and plants making their way for him. "I don't want to see you ever again! You can be bloody sure of that!" In that second, I found my flora following my will and strangling Cade. As much as I thought he deserved it, I knew that it wasn't right. Not for someone who was supposed to help bring justice to the world.

With one last dirty look, I made my way back to Dick and Wally, who seemed to know that I didn't want to talk about it, so we all just walked off in silence.

Eventually, we arrived at the headquarters, everyone doing their own thing. I, for one, was sitting on my bed, singing a random song, that had just popped into my head, relatively softly, though I had no idea what everyone else had decided to do.

"Tempest?" I looked up and saw Cade standing in my doorway, a look of regret and sorrow plastered on his face. Looking back down, I continued to sing, ignoring him completely. "Tempest, you can't ignore me forever... And I'm sorry about everything that happened... It wasn't me! You of all people should know!"

"Yes... It wasn't you... It wasn't you that have a knife stabbed through their hand. It wasn't you that thought they believed that someone was really changing for the better..." My voice was cracking and I still refused to look at him.

"You know that's not what I mean... All those things, I did them to save you... I never wanted to hurt you... And when I did, I couldn't live with myself... But I had to. I had to make sure you were safe..."

"Safe... Safe... Not exactly the word that comes into my mind when someone holds a lightning bolt to my throat!"

Cade stuttered, trying to clear himself from my 'bad-book' but it wasn't working for him in the slightest.

"That wasn't me! I didn't... You've gotta-... Why won't you believe me?! It wasn't me who did that!"

"Then what was it? Hmm?" Cade just started at me in silence, unsure what to say. "That's what I thought. You should leave. I forgot what part of the song I'm up to." I tried humming, attempting to regain my memory of what I had just been singing.

Cade turned around, looking broken and more upset than he did when he entered the room. I felt a little bit guilty, but he was the one who tried to kill me!

...Oh, I was being silly. I knew exactly what Cade meant when he said it wasn't him... I had had that exact same experience with Conner, saying all those hurtful things, and when I was drugged by almost committing suicide without any want to at all! The only thing to worry about now would be if he really meant it or if he was just saying it so he could try and kill me again, perhaps succeeding this time.

~~~.~~~

"Hey, has anyone seen Cade? I need to talk to him," I announced as I walked into the kitchen.

"He's gone," M'gann replied, standing by the oven while her cookies were baking.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"He's gone. We don't know where he went. He just left... Kind of like you," Dick said, making me feel even guiltier. They seemed to have a knack for that. Without another word, I found myself running outside, trying to find Cade, but it was all for nothing. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find him and I knew I'd never find out anything more...

When I returned back to the headquarters, the first thing I did was crash on my bed, thoughts of what Cade said fluttering about my head like an illness. Was he really telling the truth about it not being him? Why the hell did he stab me twice?! Soon, I was drifting off to sleep without realising it, 'waking up' in a familiar place.

In front of me was a metallic room that had the feel of some sort of prison. Bringing my head up and looking to my sides, I found my hands and feet bound to the wall by some kind of magnetic chain; no matter how much I struggled, it would not budge.

"I see you are now awake, Leonne." The voice was metallic and sent a shiver through me, but the main question on my mind was not who the voice belonged to. It was why I was being called Leonne.

"Where am I?" I asked, sounding low and groggy. I definitely didn't sound like my feminine self... I sounded more like...

Cade!

"You are aboard my ship. Leonne, you have the honour of being bonded by me personally. Many a person do not have that privilege."

"Bonded? What do you mean?"

"I mean bonded. The connection between your body and my mind. I will control you and there is nothing you can do about it. Only your mind will remain active as your body roams the streets, wreaking havoc wherever it shall roam.

"No, I won't! I won't let you!" I screamed, hearing my voice crack in fear and determination. With a step forward, the mysterious voice revealed himself, showing a rather large, robot-looking... thing. His colouring was split up into main quarters; his left arm and that area were just like a blue wave, while his left leg and the some of the area surrounding looked like yellow sand. It was the opposite on his right.

"Who are you?..." I was feeling weak from yelling at him, but I didn't know why. Perhaps I was being held by some power draining device?

"My name is Droughtstorm. I am your master. I will only call on your when I am in need of your assistance." His electronic voice made me feel sick; I didn't want to be a robot's slave, especially if he only wanted danger and trouble.

"I will not be your little toy! I won't be your slave, I refuse!" My head dropped down as I finished shouting, plagued by weakness and fatigue.

"So be it. But your little friend, Shanelle... Well, she seems to have more control of her powers... Not to mention she's definitely more submissive than yourself. She'd be a great addition to my team." Not the first time I had heard that.

"You leave her alone! Don't touch her!" I found myself shouting. As much as I tried to pull out of the chains, the chains continued to hold me back until I was covered in sweat from my luckless attempts.

"Feisty... So there's something going on between you two, is there?"

"There's nothing going on that I would tell you about!"

"Oh, I see... So she's found another man has she? 'Cuter' than you? 'Funnier' than you? Just 'better' than you altogether?" By now, I could feel Leonne/me getting really annoyed at Droughtstorm's teasing and insulting, but I remained quiet.

"Ah... So it is. Well, tell me. Why do you feel so strongly about Shanelle being bonded by me?" I watched as his seemingly heartless face changed from casual to intrigued. "Don't tell me you're... You're in love with a woman who barely cares that you exist!" His forced laughter drove me insane – knowing it was all true...

"You don't know what you're talking about..."

"I know enough to understand the stupidity of human emotions. As difficult as it is to think, I do not feel any emotions. Quite a shame, but I suppose it has its benefits." I didn't have the strength to talk anymore, especially since Droughtstorm had basically figured everything out. But, mustering up the last of my strength, I managed to say one last thing.

"I don't care what you do... I don't care how hard you try... I will always be there to help her, to save her... Even if she doesn't want me there... I will protect her... And I will always... ALWAYS... love her."

Suddenly, a pain shot into the base of my neck. It hurt like worse than a tonne of bricks breaking every bone is one's body. I couldn't scream, I had used up all my breath and voice. All I could do was wish that I could die. That's when everything went black.

~~~.~~~

"Cade!" I shouted, sitting up so quickly that my vision went blurry. Now I knew why he was acting so strangely; he was being controlled by Droughtstorm! The same chemicals must have been controlling me when I was acting differently. Everything was dark and it seemed like Conner and M'gann were asleep, since I didn't see them, so I decided to find Cade on my own. It was probably for the best – we'd be able to discuss everything in better detail now.

In the darkness, I found it hard to see, so my animal instinct was to change into a cat – at least they could see in the dark. Prowling around the neighbourhood, I didn't even have the slightest idea of where Cade could have been. He wasn't in any shops (most of them were shut), he wasn't still hiding at the beach, he hadn't fallen down any wells or gotten himself into any major trouble.

And then it hit me. The cliff.

I continued stalking my way over to the cliff, hoping beyond hope that I would find Cade there, and to my luck, there he was, sitting the same way that I did, his legs dangling over the edge. The words that he had said ran through my head on repeat; I still couldn't believe it.

"Hey," I said, pulling up next to him, still a cat.

"Hey..." he replied, looking a little upset.

"Look, I am so sorry about not believing you about... you know, everything... I know what you went through and, well... What you said..." If I wasn't still a feline, I would have had tears in my eyes in a flash, so I decided to keep my animal form. Perhaps it was for the better, emotionally?

"No, it's fine. I know what you must have been thinking. That I'm a sadistic, psychotic, egotistical freak who just wanted some way to harm you... I should be saying sorry. So, I'm sorry... For everything that I did, whether I was able to control myself or not..." Even though I believed him, I still had one question.

"Why did you do those things?"

"What things?" Cade turned to face me, a little confused, seeing as he had just apologised.

"I know, it wasn't you for some of those things, but there had to be a reason that you did everything you did... Like stabbing me twice. I'm sure that you were in control then..."

With a sigh, Cade wiggled over a little closer to me and grabbed a hold of the hand that he had run a knife through. He stroked his thumb over where the scar was and I swore I saw a tear pass his eye.

"That... I... Droughtstorm's 'minions' don't just pass through one's back. They pass into your hands and feet as well, slowly starting with the left hand before making their way to the rest of the body. Eventually, the 'minions' eat away at the host's brain, causing not only agonising pain, but also, after a while, killing their host. I knew that if I was able to remove the parasites from your hand and back, you'd be free from the bond." During Cade's entire speech, I hadn't moved an inch – he had touched my heart and even as a cat, I found myself aflutter with joy, sadness and now... love. He had done all that for me, and I didn't even realise it.

"How long does it usually take for them to eat away at their host?"

"It depends... But usually... About a month..." I thought about the time and that was about how long Cade and I had already been here for.

"Hold on... When did you have your encounter with Droughtstorm?" My heart was beating more rapidly than it usually would have as I asked the question, not really wanting to know the answer.

I stared at Cade and changed back to my human form, sitting alongside him, waiting for an answer. A small, sad smile greeted me as he started answering me.

"It's been three weeks..." That's when my heart stopped. I had only just found out that everything Cade did had been to help me and now, I'd be losing him because of what he was trying to save me from?! It couldn't work like that, it just couldn't!

Silence hung in the air as we stared at each other, myself filled with sadness and guilt and Cade filled with slight happiness and what seemed like a touch of regret.

"The only thing that I regret, though... Is that I couldn't be there for you when you needed someone... Wally and Dick... They... They were always there for you... And I wasn't..." Cade was still smiling sadly, twiddling his thumbs in front of him.

"Wait, how do you know Robin's name?"

"I don't know... I just do... From the day we arrived here, I've known who everyone was... Except us... But as time passed, I realised that as well, but you were spending your time with Wally, so I decided not to 'turb' you..." With a slight laugh at his 'Robin' reference, Cade's smile turned a little bit happier, until we shared a rather awkward silence, which was broken by my question.

"Our names... Shanelle... Leonne... I keep hearing those names... What have they got to do with us?"

"We... We used to be called those names... You were Shanelle and I was Leonne... That was before we came here..."

"Oh..." was all I could muster.

"Shanelle... please, tell me something..." 'Leonne' said, looking me dead in the eyes.

"About what?" Turning to face him, I brought my knees up to my chest and looked at him, slightly confused.

"When I'm gone... Will I have ruined everything for you?" His voice was very soft and full of sorrow. Would he stop?! I had had enough to make me cry for the rest of my life!

"Don't say that! You won't be gone! I won't let you!" I found myself sitting in front of him, crying like a child. Great. The emotional wreck has gone and over-wrecked herself. I felt his arms wrap around me as he brought me closer to him, resting his chin on my head, trying to cheer me up. "You won't be gone... I won't let you leave me..."

Bringing his head onto my shoulder and resting it against the side of my head, I heard his whispers loud and clear in my ear.

"Time can't be changed... And I don't have enough of it... All I ask is that you won't forget me when I'm gone... Despite the hardship I've put you through..."

"Leonne, stop saying that! You won't be gone! You won't! You can't!" As much as I wanted to believe it, I knew that he had more of an idea than me. His already dark eyes grew much darker as he smiled at me. Now I knew it was true, but I still didn't want to believe it...

I was still in his arms with Cade resting his head on my shoulder when I heard everyone come over to us.

"There you are! We've been looking everywhere for... you two..." Artemis said, realising what was happening. The entire team, including the Justice League, were standing right near us, looking on in confusion and I bawled my eyes out in Leonne's arms. I didn't want him to let go. I didn't want him to go at all!

Feeling Leonne's arms slowly pull off of me, I looked up at Batman, tears in my eyes, who simply nodded in understanding. Now, if only Wally and Dick would be so understanding.

~~~.~~~

The entire way back, I tried getting Wally's and Dick's attention, but they were being stubborn and immature, ignoring me completely. No matter what I did, they didn't want to listen to me.

"Wally! Robin! Come on! You have to listen to me at some point..." I tried again to get their attention, but it didn't work. So then, I did what people do in desperate measure... I tangled them up in vines and brought them to the lounge, so that they weren't able to escape.

"Now will you listen to me?!" I practically shouted, getting annoyed at just how childish they were being. Seeing them both nodding, I released them from the vines, but threatened to bring them back if they ran off again.

~~~.~~~

I explained everything from Droughtstorm, up to how we only remember bits and pieces at different times, not mentioning what Leonne had told me about the time he has left.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We have to stop him!" Robin shouted, jumping off of the couch. I turned around and saw the rest of the team eavesdropping from the kitchen, M'gann with tears in her eyes.

Walking out, everyone gathered at the training area of the headquarters, calling the Justice League so that they would know what our team was doing. The only ones who remained behind were myself and Leonne, who was smiling at me with that sad, sad smile that I had already seen enough times for a lifetime.

"I didn't tell them..." I whispered, my head still lowered. Leonne grabbed my hand and continued walking to the rest of the group, following suit and lowering his head as well.

When we arrived, the Justice League was saying to not interfere for the time being and that they would attempt to sort out Droughtstorm. Our team turned around and looked at us casually, just chattering amongst themselves.

"Oh, hey, didn't see you there, Tempest!" Artemis called, smiling at me.

"You too, Cade," Conner added, smiling normally. It was the first time he didn't look like it hurt to smile.

"Well we're here now," Leonne said somewhat happily. I smiled at him and then looked at everyone else.

"And call us Shanelle and Leonne."


	11. Chapter 11 - Dreamer's Reality

"So, what'cha doing, Rob?" I asked Robin, trying to imitate Wally, watching him as he was reading something on the holographic screen of his glove.

"Researching Droughtstorm, but I can't find anything more on him... It's like he doesn't exist!" he replied, tapping on the screen and sighing in disappointment.

"Oh, okay... Well, I don't know if it'll help, but I know a few things about him that I didn't tell you before? I thought they were useless things, so I kept them to myself." I was just casually smiling at him like nothing mattered at that moment, but he didn't seem to feel the same.

"Tem-," he started, before I corrected him.

"Bup, bup, bup! It's Shanelle." Robin just stared at me, not wanting to have this conversation.

"'Shanelle'... What did you not tell us?"

"I didn't think you'd want to know."

"We NEED to know whatever we can about Droughtstorm and as soon as we can!" It was obvious that Robin was getting annoyed, but I was having too much fun playing with him.

"Do you NEED to know that he has to live off of the wills of others in order to survive? Or did you NEED to know that his weakness is merely determination?... Or that his favourite colour is blue." With a chuckle, Robin looked back down at his screen.

"Right, so we'll need Wally, an A+ on a test and a blue stone to bring him down. Well, that's turbing."

"I'll look for the stone! And what's turbing is how much free time you have to think about that kind of thing!" I joked, running out of the room.

"Wow, slow down, rocket! You seem excited today," Wally pointed out as I ran into him, almost knocking us both over.

"It's ironic that you're telling ME to slow down. And yeah, I guess I am excited today. I don't know why, I'm just in a good mood!"

"Well, you know what they say, -."

"After the high comes the low! Wait... Oh my God... No, I don't want a low! I want to stay on my high!" I ran up to a wall and rested my head against it, being followed by Wally.

"Uh, I was just gonna say that what goes around comes around, so your happiness is going to put everyone else in a bright mood too." With a reassuring hand on my shoulder and a slightly confused look on his face, Wally walked into the kitchen. Even though I couldn't see him, I could hear the sound of him munching away on something.

I walked into the lounge, sitting down and thinking about whatever I could think about, really. I didn't know what there was to contemplate; so basically, I just sat down, staring at the lounge in front of me.

"Uh, Shanelle, can I talk to you about something for a second?" Leonne's voice rang from the doorway as he stepped into the room, looking more than a little concerned.

"Hey, is everything alright?!" I asked a little too excitedly.

"Not exactly... You remember how you said that Droughtstorm seemed familiar, but you didn't know why?" I nodded. What did that have to do with anything? "Um... I think I know why he's familiar." It was easy to tell that Leonne was uncomfortable with the topic, so I tried not to press it as much as I could.

"Oh... Okay... W-why is that?" I tried to keep my voice comforting and soft, but it didn't seem to be working too well.

"I think I'd better show you..." With that, he grabbed my hand and I felt him enter my mind. Since when could he do that?!

Suddenly, everything went dark before it became light again. I saw Leonne next to me, a partial smile on his face, but he looked different. He looked younger – a lot younger.

The ground was completely dry and I could feel myself in need of water. My lips were cracked and my head was dizzy. What was going on?

"Nelly! Nelly! Look what I found!" a little boy came running up to me, a strange device in his hand. Then it hit me.

He was my little brother, Malin.

"Hey, champ! What have you got there?" I asked, taking it from his hands and fiddling with the weird... whatever it was.

"I don't know, but it looks cool!" he squealed, very excited by his findings.

That's when everything started going downhill. Without even realising it, I had accidentally pulled a trigger, which sent a homing beacon to Droughtstorm. The sky quickly became very dark and I found myself huddled up against Leonne and Malin.

"Nelle, what's happening?" Malin asked, his face frozen in fear.

"I'm not sure..." I responded. The next thing I knew, an airship was flying overhead, a beam from it connecting with my little brother. I couldn't let him go, but the beam was too strong.

In a second, he was gone. And that's when I came back to reality.

"Was that..." I started, looking sadly at Leonne.

"That was your little brother. He was taken by Droughtstorm and that's why you remember him so well. Droughtstorm, I mean."

I didn't even remember having a little brother and I definitely didn't remember anything about him being taken away by Droughtstorm. Well, I didn't remember anything about it until now.

"I have to find him. I have no know what happened to him," I stated, trying to push past Leonne, but he just stopped me like I was a feather.

"There's nothing you can do for him now. That was years ago... Remember what I told you about the parasites..." I was definitely starting to feel the low now.

"But..." I could hardly say anything. I mean, what was I supposed to say? "Wow, I didn't even know I had a brother!"? Suddenly I felt myself being pulled into Leonne, who was stroking my back comfortingly.

After a few minute, I pulled back and looked at him.

"But Leonne... I can't lose the two of you!" With a smile, he kissed me on the cheek and led me out to the others. I was staring at the ground, everything running through my head. Malin... My little brother... Even though I couldn't remember him, I felt a chunk of my heart missing.

"Hey-hey! They're back!" Wally called, smiling at myself and Leonne as we entered the room.

"Yes. We're back," Leonne replied. I saw him trying to flash me a smile out the corner of my eye, but I was less than interested. Everything was happening so quickly and I was terrified. It had been over a month since Leonne and I had first come to Mount Justice and properly met the team, and now, I was being told that I had lost my little brother, who I had no recollection of, and now, I was losing Leonne as well.

It seemed like my life was falling apart.

"Hey, Nelle, are you alright?" Dick asked. I clenched my free fist and felt myself fall against Leonne in frustration and sadness. Suddenly, all the memories were flooding back. The memories of myself and Malin going Christmas shopping, the memories of the times we spent together as I took him to the park, the memories of us spending time with the family...

It broke my heart to know that those memories were all gone.

Then came the flashbacks of myself and Leonne; the major times we spent together. But there was one in particular that was rather detailed and caught my attention. I was staring into a mirror, admiring my reflection; I looked absolutely stunning. My hair was all pulled to the top of my head and there were beads throughout it. I was wearing a strapless, lavender dress that reached all the way down to the ground and my neck was adorned in pearls. Make-up corrected my facial flaws and I actually felt truly beautiful for once in my life.

I turned around to see Leonne behind me, his bright grin lighting up my life.

"You look amazing..." I muttered under my breath. He was wearing a black tuxedo, his hair combed back. Walking forward, he handed me a corsage and I happily agreed. Tonight was going to be one of the best nights of our lives.

"Trust me, you definitely look better than me," he replied with a slight chuckle. I followed with a giggle and he took my arm, leading me out onto the dance floor. People were sitting, standing, dancing, kissing and eating all throughout the room, but I felt eyes following me as I walked with Leonne. For a cute nerd, he definitely looked pretty hot tonight.

"Shall we dance?" he asked, placing one hand on my waist and the other gripping my hand.

"We shall." Letting him lead, we waltzed around the floor until the music stopped, followed by a slow song.

"Do you want to sit down for this?" I asked, releasing his hand and starting to make my way to the side of the room. His hand grabbed onto mine and I felt him pull my back over to him.

"Hey, we've both been looking forward to this night since the day we first met each other! You have to dance; I think I have enough left in me for one more round," Leonne whispered, pulling me up close to him. He wrapped his hands around my back and I did the same around his neck, slightly hoping my dress wouldn't fall down. But no, that wasn't the case.

A quarter of the way through the song, I started relaxing a little, resting my head on Leonne's shoulder.

"Shanelle... I want to ask you something..." Leonne started saying, his chin resting on my head. That's when my night was ruin. Some idiot wanting some laughs came running up to me pulled my dress down, noticing I wasn't paying attention. As soon as it reached my hips, he ran off laughing, high-fiving his mates as he sat back down.

Embarrassed? That word didn't even start to cover it. Tonight was supposed to be my big night, and some douche came along and ruined it.

I tried walking backward out of the room, covering my chest, but found myself tripping over my dress. By now, I looked like absolute crap because I was half dressed, my make-up was running and my hair was falling out of the style it was in. All in all, it had quickly become one of the worst nights of my life. Leonne was just staring at me, unsure what to do, before he walked off, out of my sight. What a fantastic date. And even if he wanted to help me, he was too weak to even assist me in standing. He could barely pick me up last time we had a joke about it.

Wriggling backwards, my dress continued to make its way down my legs. I heard everyone laughing at me, taking in my pain, until I couldn't handle it anymore. Tears ran down my face and I sat on the floor, covering my half-naked body. That's when I felt someone covering me, picking me up and taking me outside. My eyes were closed because of how terrible I was feeling, so I didn't know who it was.

I was placed onto the ground and immediately, I readjusted my dress, turning away from my rescuer as I did so.

"Th-thank you..." I muttered. It was probably the guy who dacked me feeling bad about what he did. That usually seemed to happen. Or it could have been a teacher. Or even the principal. I knew who it definitely wouldn't be.

"Hey, you know I wouldn't leave you hanging in there like that! That would be too whelming if I did." Whelming... Now why did that sound familiar? Turning around, I was greeted by a blushing boy who was standing there, in the cold of the night, without his jacket. At that moment, I started blushing as well, realising that I was wearing it.

"Leonne? How-?" I was smiling like a loony but I didn't care.

"Well, when I realised I couldn't even pick you up, I decided to do some weight training... Apparently it's been working, though I haven't noticed any major differences... Well, apart from tonight." He was looking up to the starry night sky, a 'thinking' look on his face.

"Well, don't hurt yourself," I joked, smirking at him before a look of sadness and disappointment took its place. "I'm sorry, Lee... I didn't want any of this to happen... You wanted to enjoy tonight. I kinda messed it up..." I started to leave before Lee looked at me, confused.

"Wait, where are you going? You can't leave yet!"

"I'm heading home. We aren't allowed back in once we go outside, remember? School hall rules? Oh, and here's your jacket back..." I pulled off the jacket, about to hand it back, but Leonne was alright right up in front of me, his smiling still bright.

"Who says we need to be in there to make tonight special? We can still hear the music! So... would you like to dance?" With that, he bowed to me and reached for my hand again, before pulling me in closer.

"Lee, really?" I asked, backing away a little, but he only came closer.

"Like I said, we've both been waiting a long time for tonight... And it's finally here. So, let's make the most out of it!" Looking up at the stars, I realised just how romantic the setting was. With 'Fall For You – Secondhand Serenade' playing in the background, the lights only dim and Leonne being the only person with me, I agreed to dance with him, beaming like the sun.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?" he asked, as he twirled me around slowly.

"Did I ever tell you just how cliché that is? Not to mention that you're dancing with a person who looks like rubbish."

"...I don't see your point." I knew he was trying to be romantic, so I just went with it.

"Thank you, Leonne. Thank you. Oh, didn't you want to ask me something?" Only just remembering, I looked at him, intrigued, as he continued to dance with me.

"Well, we've been best friends for a long time now... We've always been there for each other, through the good and the bad. You've seen me at my best," he started, referring to his outfit, "and my worst and I've seen you at your best and your worst. So... what I wanted to ask was... Will you be my girlfriend?"

I smiled at him and felt him spin me around before bringing me up only a few centimetres from his face.

"Yes, I will."

"Are you sure?" At that moment, he had the style of a young James Bond, and I liked it.

"Yes, I am very sure. Especially right now." He leaned down and planted his lips on mine; I could feel myself flushing bright red and a smile making its way onto my face.

And then I regained consciousness again.

"Um, am I the only one who noticed just how red she went then?" Wally asked confusedly, looking around at everyone else. When I opened my eyes, I found I was biting my lip and started looking at Leonne, who was smiling at me the same way he had been.

"I thought you'd want to know..." he whispered, leaning down to my ear.

"Can someone please tell us what we're missing here?" Robin asked, looking at Wally, who just shrugged.

"Just how we'll always be here for each other, no matter what happens." I leaned against Leonne's chest and smiled. So much had been explained in the past few days, all thanks to him.

"Yeah... Right. That's true," Artemis stated, looking a little confused, like everyone else in the group.

Wally raised his hand, looking at us all. "Uh, I just have one question... When can we eat?"

~~~.~~~

All of us sitting in the lounge room again, I explained that we needed to find Droughtstorm, that I needed to find Droughtstorm.

"I will be going, whether you are all for it or not. So, if you want to help, say something now." I ordered, holding onto Lee's hand, praying for him that we'd find a way out of his trouble.

"I am definitely for it. This is a team and we must act like one," Kaldur spoke, looking very assertive. Eventually, everyone was agreeing to it, except for Leonne.

"Aren't you going to come with us? We might find your cure!" I insisted, but Leonne was firm with his decision.

"If there is a cure, then return it to me here. I have a feeling that I will only be in your way with the control that Droughtstorm has over me. I'm sorry..." I gave him a comforting smile before we made our way outside the mountain.

Everyone was all set to go, but I had to make sure that Leonne would be alright to stay at the headquarters.

"Hey, handsome... You feeling okay?" I asked, walking up to him with a sad smile on my face.

"Honestly? I feel terrible... But it's okay... You're with me, so I'll be fine. I can get through this, don't worry. I'll be here when you get back with the cure, ready, willing and able. I bet Batman could probably help me out a little bit too," he replied, giving me a hug which lasted for about a minute.

"You'll be... You'll be alright. I don't want to leave you, though..." I was shaky, hoping that he really would be alright.

"Hey, it's fine, remember? Now, you go out there and kick some mind-controlling butt, alright? For me!" I nodded and started to leave, before he pulled me back, kissing me immediately. Once he released me, I started at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that for?"

"In case something goes wrong and I can't tell you after... I love you." I smiled and giggled at him.

"Nothing will go wrong and I can't tell you still, how cliché that is... But I love you too... Nothing will go wrong!" And I finally left the mountain behind me.


	12. Chapter 12 - Find and Strangle

"Not to sound like the kill-joy here, but where are we supposed to even start?!" Wally, now dressed as Kid Flash, exclaimed, his hands on his hips.

"I'd say that the Justice League will know something about this. Perhaps we should -," I started, before being interrupted.

"Are you crazy?! If we even attempted a suicide mission like this, we'd be headless!" I stared at him with slight anger.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't call me crazy right now. We have to focus. And that might be the only place to start, seeing as we don't have any LEADS!" I retorted, waving my hand in the air dramatically so he knew I was being serious.

"...Sure, let's call the Justice League! And write out our wills while we're at it..." Robin was muttering under his breath. Yes, very mature.

I raised my eyebrow and continued talking.

"Aqualad, would you be able to contact the League?" With a nod, Aqualad pressed his belt, summoning the League.

"They should be here momentarily. How exactly do you expect to convince them to give this information to us freely?" he asked, taking a single step towards me. Truthfully, I hadn't quite figured that out.

~~~.~~~

It felt like a lifetime had passed before the Justice League finally arrived, but in truth, it was only just less than an hour.

"Why do you summon us here?" Red Tornado inquired as they all landed on the ground. There was only Superman, Batman and Red Tornado standing before us and I was fairly sure that was all we'd see.

"We need to know what information you've gathered on Droughtstorm," I announced strongly, holding my ground.

"That information is confidential." Batman glared at me as I thought up an excuse.

"As is the case, but it seems there is much more that I know about Droughtstorm than is able to be researched. I had a connection with him, meaning that I can be baited, as well as I am able to detect his weakness and strengths. We simply need what information you have currently. I am certain that we will be able to help you destroy this evil, but you need to trust us." I had no idea how convincing I actually sounded, but I did notice just how stupid I felt sounding like an encyclopaedia.

"Well, Bats? She does have a point..." Superman agreed with me, taking a step behind Batman.

"Yes. The girl does seem to have some miscellaneous knowledge on Droughtstorm that may prove useful," Red Tornado added. Secretly, I did a little jig, just waiting for Batman to agree with the others.

"I'm not sure I can trust you. You've been in this team for just over a month, but in that time, you've barely known anything about yourself, or your family. How do I really known that you're not playing us for some twisted game?" I returned Batman's glare and stepped up in front of him.

"I'm sure you understand the feeling of losing someone. How hard that is to deal with. How you have to be able to cope. I know you don't want people suffering that same problem. That's why you took Robin in, because of his history. All I need is some information on Droughtstorm. I'll be out of your hair in no time." I managed to keep my voice to a mere whisper, confusing the rest of the team a little bit.

Batman continued to stare, but I was sure that I had gotten through to him.

"We haven't learned much about Droughtstorm at all. We know he picks out those he believes is weak-willed and converts them to follow him. We also know that on most occasions, a 'beacon' is required in order to summon him. We aren't sure where to find it or how to work it, but it is required."

I smiled and thanked him before turning back to Aqualad.

"We have the information. Now what shall we do?"

"Finding the beacon will be the only way. We must split up and search for the device. Superboy, Miss Martian and I will cover the north of the city. You, Robin and Kid will cover the south of the city. M'gann, link us up."

With a nod, we were all linked up telepathically.

"Good to go?" I asked, having everyone around me nod. "Good. Now let's head out."

~~~.~~~

"So, where are we heading again?" Kid asked telepathically as we made our way to the south side of the city.

"South. Looking for something that looks strange, like a little remote," I replied, also telepathically, carefully scanning the ground. It was much harder than it seemed. By the time about two hours had passed, we still weren't even close to finding the beacon!

"This is getting us nowhere!" Robin exclaimed mentally, exasperatedly throwing his hands up into the air.

"No, we'll find it! One of our groups WILL find it! I'm sure we will..." I was starting to lose hope, but then I heard something, some kind of incantation, followed by the appearance of the beacon right in front of me.

"Well, you were definitely accurate. I wonder how that worked..." We all looked around, Kid Flash running off to different spot in order to see who had helped us, but no one was there.

"Kid, come back here! We need all of us together in order for this to work!" I called, motioning for Kid Flash to rejoin us.

"Whatever you say, babe!" He came speeding back, leaving dust in his tracks. I waved it out of my face and coughed, before communicating with the group via my mind.

"We've found the beacon. Repeat, we've found the beacon. Regroup at Central Park."

"Understood. We shall be there soon." Aqualad's voice came into my mind and I felt a little more at ease. We were a step closer to finding my brother and helping out Leonne.

As we rushed to Central Park, a rush of sweat came over me, like I was becoming overly stressed out.

"Hey, Tempest, you look like you're in a sauna or something. Everything alright?" Kid Flash asked telepathically. I nodded, unsure myself.

"I think so... I don't know. I feel funny."

"You look it, too. I mean, strange. I mean, -." As noble as Kid Flash's intentions were, he kept making it sound worse for himself, but I got the gist of it.

"It's fine, I understand."

~~~.~~~

Eventually, we made our way to Central Park and I showed the beacon to the rest of the group privately.

"We found it with the help of an unknown source," I explained, presenting the beacon but hiding my body around it, so that no one else, apart from the group, could see it.

"Excellent. Now, how does it work?" Aqualad asked, examining the beacon.

"I'm not sure..." Fiddling with the beacon, I felt a trigger and flicked it, feeling a strange feeling coming over me. That's when the memory of Leonne, Malin and myself during the drought hit me again. With a groan, I dropped to my knees, the group running to my side. "I'm sure 'he'll' be here soon..."

_"Nelly! Nelly! Look what I found!"_

_"Nelle, what's happening?"_

"No! We need to find Droughtstorm!" I squealed, attempting to stand back up, but falling onto my face.

"We're looking for him, Tempest. That's why we're here..." Robin told me, helping me stand up. Staring up at the sky, there was nothing.

"He... He's not... Oh, God... This can't be happening..." I walked about in circles, stressing. What if Droughtstorm never comes? What would I do then? I wouldn't have any chance to see what happened to Malin and I definitely wouldn't be able to find the cure for Leonne...

And that's when I saw it. That's when I saw him.

"Shanelle? Shanelle, is that you?!" he called, running toward me. At first, all I saw was a shadow, but soon, he came into the light and I felt an immediate connection.

"Malin?" I took a hesitant step forward. What if I was being tricked? What if it was Droughtstorm in some kind of disguise?

"Shanelle! I'm okay! That day, seven years ago! It was fine, nothing happened! I was abducted by Droughtstorm, but I agreed to be his slave if he did not take away my will."

I stared. Being confused seemed to be my biggest asset lately. I watched as 'Malin' ran up to me and threw his arms around me. As excited as I should have been, I still wasn't completely sure. I hadn't seen him in years and now, he was pretending everything was alright.

That wasn't something my family would have done.

"It's great to see you being part of something bigger! I always knew you'd accomplish something amazing!" I continued to stare at him, examining him. "Shanelle, what's wrong?" I brought my arms onto his back and embraced my 'brother', but I still was not sure that he was really my relative.

"So, Tempest, is this your brother?" Aqualad asked, sensing my doubt.

"Uh... Yes..." I replied unconvincingly. 'Malin' just stared at me, a little hurt.

"It's been years, but you don't believe I'm really your brother? That's harsh..." He lowered his head and I found myself back tracking through the years of my life... Seven years ago... And that's when it hit me.

"How many years did you say it has been?" I asked, staring intently at him. Everyone else seemed a little confused. He did go missing several years ago, didn't he? But I continued staring straight at the man in front of me.

"Seven years ago. During the drought. Droughtstorm took me when you were fiddling with the homing beacon," he 'explained'.

I smirked and glared at him. He definitely wasn't related to me.

"Who are you? Really."

"What do you mean, I'm-."

"Don't pull that on me. I know you're not my brother. So just who the hell are you?"

"How are you so sure?" 'Malin' was smirking at me, moving a step closer to me.

"Seven years ago... That was when we have the snow storms for the year. It wasn't until the next year, six years ago, that the droughts occurred..." I pointed out, one hand on my hip.

"Ah, slight difference in time. You know I was never good at that kind of thing. Maths, time, geography and all that. It was an unnecessary thing."

"Again, my brother loved geography and maths. He wanted to be an excavator and travel the world. He knew he'd need geography and maths to help him, and time was an obvious 'must-have'. And I wasn't fiddling with the beacon when he was abducted. The aircraft came after I had already flicked the switch. He was huddling up to me, asking me what was happening... I couldn't answer him... But you're not my brother!"

I stood in front of the fraud, my hands on my hips, my eyes staring deep into his own.

"Very well played. It seems you have a stronger will and mind than He once thought..." I glared, but overall, refused to move.

"Where's my brother?! And where is Droughtstorm?!" I heard Aqualad pipe up from near us.

"And who is this 'He' you speak of?"

The fraud slowly smiled as though nothing was wrong. I could feel my blood boiling. He had the gall to do that right in front of me after pretending he was my brother? I had the urge to smash the guy right then and there.

"You're brother is dead. I am sure you know by now that the parasites, once they inhabit, they slowly eat away at their host, ending them very slowly and painfully. I am certain you have that experience currently in your life, am I correct?" I sneered and clenched my fist, causing him to smirk even more.

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Ah, I see there is something similar happening in your life, right now, isn't there? Well, I'm sure that Leonne won't be very pleased to see that you've failed to defeat the Great Droughtstorm!"

I hated this guy more and more each se-, wait a minute... Leonne?!

"Droughtstorm..." I told the team telepathically, bringing forth my vines and aiming them straight at the traitor in front of me. "We know your secret. Only one person knew Leonne's case and that person was... Droughtstorm..." I exclaimed, my vines entangling the man in front of me, but it didn't seem to have much of an affect. I watched as he changed into his robot form, ripping the plants off of him with ease.

"Really? Now, I thought you would have been able to do much better than that."

We all tried to bring Droughtstorm down using what abilities we had, but nothing seemed strong enough to defeat him. Eventually, we were all down, lying on the ground in pain. We couldn't move, but I still knew that we had to defeat Droughtstorm.

"Come on, team! We can still do it! We can still defeat him!" I encouraged my friends telepathically, hoping they would join me, but they couldn't.

"We can't... He's too strong and even the Justice League wouldn't be able to contain him! It's pointless..." Robin started doubting, but I knew that there was no harm in trying.

"You can't give up! That's exactly how he'll win! His weakness is a strong-will!"

Despite my words of encouragement, the team refused to move, so I knew that I'd have to finish this on my own.

"W-why don't you p-pick on someone – your own size?!" I tried shouting, my knees wobbling as I stood.

"I already have. They no longer exist. So it seems people a smaller ratio than me shall have to do for the moment."

"Just because w-we're small, d-doesn't me-ean that we can't do anyth-thing!" I ran up to the robot, my arms ready to go through his torso, but he seemed to have other plans. As soon as I connected with him, I found myself flying backwards, a pain in my arm. But I still couldn't give up! I had to defeat him for me, for Leonne, for Malin...

"Justice League... We need you..." I heard Aqualad say very softly in the distance. Well, at least I'd have help.

"Really, human. I thought that you would have learnt that any attempt to contain or defeat me would be without reason. I am virtually unstoppable."

"Virtually unstoppable... But I won't give up!" I charged at him again, barely dodging his attempt at a blow to my head. "You missed me!" Throwing my hand at him again, I managed to hear a slight shattering; I just hoped to the Lord that it wasn't my fist. Pulling back, I saw bits of plastic falling from the hole that I had made in his side – the shattering.

"Do you honestly think that will stop me?" With a drop of his hand, I was on the ground, his fist pinning me to the ground. I struggled, but could not get free. At this rate, I was sure I would have a broken chest. With look down, I pulled my leg back and thrust it out again, connecting with Droughtstorm's leg. Despite the minimal amount of damage it caused, it definitely caught his attention, resulting in my release.

"No, but it will certainly help with that!" Again, I brought up the flora, and aimed it straight at Droughtstorm's head. The only difference was that thing time, I was definitely concentrating. I watched as the vines and thorns wrapped themselves around Droughtstorm's neck, in an attempt to strangle him.

"Petty plants will do you no good in a fight again me, human," he teased, pulling off the plants. Without a second's hesitation, I summoned more plants to recoil around the robot's neck, tighter this time. Each time he attempted to pull them off, I increased my will and tightened the plants grip. But soon, I was running out of energy, will and perseverance. It was becoming too hard to fight his fight for much longer.

A final hour passed and Droughtstorm was nearly at breaking point, as was I. Sparks came from his head, but I could barely keep a hold of his neck anymore. I could feel everything on me just losing all strength, especially my mind.

"Oh, poor human. Running out of 'juice', are you?" Droughtstorm teased, walking up to me and throwing an almighty hand down onto me. When he removed it, I felt myself broken, battered and bruised, but still, I wouldn't give up... I... I couldn't... give up.

"I... will... defeat you... Even if... I... die... t-trying...!" I threatened, trying to stand again.

"Is that so? Well, show me how you'll managed to do that." And finally, with the last bit of power I had, I morphed into a dingo, jumping from the ground and sinking my teeth into the exposed bit of Droughtstorm's neck. The electricity buzzed through me and I felt absolutely terrible. And that's when I saw the Justice League turn up, to finish what I had started...


	13. Chapter 13 - Lost and Regained

I woke up, my head absolutely burning. I was in a familiar place that I couldn't put my finger on for a little while, until I realised where it was.

The hospital. The gang were all around me, dressed normally and standing by the hospital bed I was lying in.

"What happened? Did we win?" I asked groggily, my head spinning.

"Yeah, we won... Thanks to you..." Artemis smiled at me and patted my head, looking somewhat sadly at me.

"If we won, why don't you look happy?"

"We won at a cost..." Conner explained, gripping M'gann's hand. He flicked his head toward me left, and following his line of gaze, I was shocked.

Leonne was lying in the bed next to me, barely conscious.

"He's only just in a stable condition, but... the nurse said... He'll be gone by tonight..." Dick explained, holding my other hand. No... No, that couldn't be right! He couldn't go! We only just go here!

"But, wasn't there a cure? I was sure there was a cure!" I exclaimed, instantly regretting it as everything came swirling around me. I groaned and closed my eyes, hearing footsteps coming closer to me.

"Shanelle, there was only the cure for the early stages... Not any for his severity." I could see a shadow emerging from the archway. They did and didn't look familiar; they had a bigger build, very masculine.

"She's awake, Bruce." Dick explained as Bruce Wayne came closer to me. It was so strange seeing Batman without his cowl.

"You fought valiantly, Shanelle. You should be proud. There are always consequences whenever the fight is worthy, and this was the price we had to pay..." he whispered in my ear, making me blush slightly. But even though I was blushing, I still felt absolutely terrible that Leonne had gone through all of that. "But it looks like Leonne is waking up now. We'll leave you too alone." I smiled and turned on the bed, trying to face Leonne.

"Leonne, you're awake," I said once everyone had left the room.

"Yes... I am... Look, I'm sorry about his... I wanted to be with you so badly... But... This isn't how I wanted it to be..." His face was full of regret and sadness. If I could have reached him, I would have kissed all the sorrow off of his face.

"Leonne, don't worry... We both made mistakes... I'm just happy you're with me right now... No matter what happens, I will be here for you..."

"Shanelle, you know, you've always been my number one girl... All throughout high school and primary school. You've always been there for me and I've tried to be there for you..." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

"Stop it. I know. You've always been my number one guy. Even though I acted like I didn't care that you were there. In all honesty, you were the one I could rely on, no matter what... And thank you for that..." I could feel Leonne grab my hand and saw a smile come onto his face.

"You know... When all this is over... I'll miss you... You just can't forget me..." His eyes were starting to water and his lip was shivering slightly, so I leant over, kissed my hand and put it on his lips, seeing as we were too far away from each other.

"When this is over, we'll be together. I swear, I will try to help you as much as I can. You can't leave me! Please don't... Don't leave me..." His hand squeezed mine once more as I heard his words.

"I've always loved you..." I looked back up at the ceiling, enjoying the moment. Until it ended.

_Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeep._

His hand was still holding onto mine minutes after, but the time came eventually, when we both had to release our grip. Tears ran down my face as I looked to my left again, seeing Leonne's head facing the other way to me, so I couldn't see his face.

"No... You can't leave me... You... You can't..." I mumbled to him, knowing he couldn't hear me. My heart was breaking in my chest as I sat up and pulled my knees to my body.

"Shanelle, are you o-," M'gann started asking, before seeing what had happened and running up to me, embracing me in a hug.

"H-he's... He's gone... I thought... All that time, he actually... he was trying to help me..." I mumbled through gobs of sobs, squeezing M'gann close to me. One by one, the rest of the team came over to me, hugging me and holding onto my hands in reassurance.

"It'll be okay..." they all tried to tell me, but I felt my heart break enough for things to never be okay. My little brother... My best/boy friend... They were gone... And I didn't even get to see the end of Droughtstorm, the reason that I was in this mess in the first place!

~~~.~~~

Time passed and eventually, again, I was allowed to leave the drab place that hurt me mentally and physically every time I thought about it. Before I left, M'gann gave me a basic shirt with everyone's superhero symbols on it, even 'Cade's' and my own and a pair of shorts to change into. Even though the entire group, including Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, was surrounding me, I barely had anything to do with them. The reassurances barely entered my mind as we walked back to the headquarters, myself in silence.

When we finally reached the cave, the first thing I told everyone was that I was going to sleep, which seemed to strike them up. M'gann and Artemis came running over to me, flinging their arms around me and squishing me as though they wouldn't see me again for a long time.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, but no one answered me. Kaldur came up to me and shook my hand.

"It has been a pleasure having you with us." I smiled as he grinned at me, before walking back. M'gann looked at Conner, who walked up to me and awkwardly gave me a hug, which I eagerly accepted. Hey, not every day does Superman's 'son' give you a hug, and I wasn't about to pass it up!

Wally and Dick looked at each other before they both came up to me and gave me a hug, causing me to blush a little through my tears.

"We'll miss you..." they said to me as they walked back. I looked at Kaldur, seeing as he was the only one who hadn't given me a hug, and managed to, without a word, convince him to do exactly that.

"Now, will someone explain what's going on?" I asked, my voice soft and sad, but as loud as I could manage. Everyone just looked at each other before looking at me, remaining quiet.

"Fine... Night..." And with that, I walked back to my room, crashed on my bed and fell asleep, thoughts running wildly through my mind.

~~~.~~~

That morning was probably one of the strangest mornings of my life. I felt so weird; like I was a completely different person.

"Wow... Last night was so weird..." I mumbled to myself, standing up. And that's when it hit me. Looking down, I saw my outfit and my body. The shirt was a simple singlet and I was wearing boxers with all different kinds of symbols on them. More than likely something Leonne had given me.

"Wait... Was I just dreaming?!" I exclaimed to myself, realising nothing was like what I had seen the previous night. I was in my normal house, with my parents! I wasn't in some room in the team's headquarters! I WAS IN MY HOUSE!

"No... It must have been real! It was... It wasn't real... Wait, that means that Leonne-!" I started confusing myself, but become excited at the thought that Leonne was still alright. It was probably one of those things where you have a dream that you lose someone, just so you appreciate them more.

"Mum, Mum!" I called, running out of my bedroom and being greeted by my parents, who looked as though they had just seen a ghost.

"Shanelle? SHANELLE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" my Mum screeched, running over to me and squeezing me in her arms.

"Mum, it's so great to see you! And... I don't know... Wait... How long have I been gone?" I asked, pulling from her grip and being pulled into my father's embrace.

"Over a bloody month, Nelle! We were worried that maybe... You had... Ended up like Malin..." Dad explained, squeezing me even tighter.

"And Leonne, you've both been gone!"

Right... So I hadn't been imagining everything... But that means... Leonne...

I felt a tear run down my face as I made my way back to my room. Raiding my drawers, I was sure I hadn't been imagining things. They were filled with the different outfits that I had worn throughout the time I spent there.

If only time would go back and I could help Leonne...

~~~.~~~

Hours passed and I found myself only sitting on my bed, moping about everything that had happened, but suddenly, my Mum's calls knocked me out of my dreamland.

"Nelle! You have a parcel!" I stood up slowly, waddling over to the front door, not wanting to be out of my room at all.

"Is it really important?" I moaned, making my way past Mum, to the table where the parcel sat.

"I don't know... It's from someone called Mount Justice. Who's that?" As soon as I heard that, I grabbed the parcel and ran to my room, explaining it was a place, not a person.

Ripping the packaging off, I threw off the lid and lit up when I saw the contents. There was a green arrow, a black shirt with an 'S' on it, a burnt cookie, a shirt with all the symbols on it (including the T and the C) and a little cookie with a lightning bolt on it. Pulling all those things out, I noticed a few others that really made me smile and reminisce.

Robin's shuriken. It still had 'Hope you had fun – Robin' written on it. I felt a grin appear on my face as I continued through the box. There was a little trigger that had the word, 'Souvenir' written on a tag that was attached to it. Wally, more than likely. And finally, the one thing that excited me the most: a DVD with 'Young Justice' written on it.

I looked at an envelope that was hidden under all the things and smiled as I opened it.

They were photos of the times we spent together. There was some of the final hugs that I had gotten from the gang and there was a few of the times I had at school with Wally. A tear escaped my eye as I looked through, admiring the pictures, especially when I found one of myself and Leonne sitting on the cliff, talking to each other. And then, I found a note at the bottom.

"Leonne wanted you to have the disc. Feel free to visit anytime!"

Visit... So, did that mean I could go back and see them whenever I wanted? I could go back and talk to the gang at any time I chose?! But how would I get back... Oh well, it wouldn't matter; at least I'd see them again!

I was starting to get the feeling my life would soon become very exciting. Even though I had lost my best friend, I could visit him any time I wanted! I would definitely be holding onto the CD.

**Hey, readers! Thank you for sticking with this until the end! It means so much to me! I am currently working on the sequel (I know, I said that with the other book, but I got a bloody writer's block on the other story. It's not fun.) to this! It'll be based on another girl and I think it's going pretty well! So, keep an eye out for it! It'll be out soon!**


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